


The Worst of Times

by BiWolf



Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: Established Relationship, F/M, Goa'uld (Stargate), Married Sam and Jack, Old team back together, Paradox, Time Travel, Tok'ra (Stargate), Vala and Mitchell really aren't in this much
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-10
Updated: 2021-03-09
Packaged: 2021-03-16 14:42:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 17
Words: 67,471
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29951517
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BiWolf/pseuds/BiWolf
Summary: Some years after the events of SG-1, and Atlantis, the original team are called back for an important mission. Sopdu, a minor Goa'uld is trying to change time to stop the demise of the Goa'uld. General O'Neill, Colonel Carter, Daniel, and Teal'c must follow him back in time to stop him from destroying the lives they hold dear. They'll need the help of their past lives while keeping the secrets of the future to themselves.
Relationships: Samantha "Sam" Carter/Jack O'Neill
Comments: 6
Kudos: 19





	1. Vacation Cancelled

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this years ago and posted elsewhere, but figured I should here. I'll be posting it pretty well all at once, so you won't have to wait long. I wrote this mostly because I wanted a story where they go back in time and interact with themselves after they're all successful and married and such, so this is basically that. Hope you enjoy.

Colonel Samantha Carter had only a couple days off before she was supposed to head back out on a short mission to who knew where. She planned to enjoy the days she had, but it seemed someone was determined to keep her from even having a full day off. The loud ringing from beside her woke her in the night on what was supposed to be her day off. She groaned and rolled over before realizing it wasn't her phone, but her partner's that was ringing.

He'd already picked it up, looking blearily at the phone before he answered, "O'Neill."

The person on the other side of the phone started talking rather quickly about Tok'ra, and time travel, and something he'd be hard-pressed to understand when he was fully awake let alone in the middle of the night. He muttered that they'd be there and hung up before they could go on.

Lieutenant General Jack O'Neill liked his vacations, especially his vacations when his wife was in town. He hadn't had much more time off than she had, and they were both due for it, but it seemed to universe had other plans. He turned over to her, seeing that she was awake too, although she looked as exhausted as he felt. He winced sympathetically, "We've got to go."

She furrowed her brow and sat up on her elbows, "We? As in both of us?"

He shrugged, "Apparently this warrants all of the original SG-1 to be there. Who knows why. They're recalling the current SG-1 from off-world so it's not just us."

"Well, they're not losing out on their vacation time." She sighed then pushed the blanket aside. "We best get dressed, then I can have us beamed to wherever we need to go."

"The SGC, it seems." She nodded and grabbed her clothes, quickly getting dressed while he did the same.

As Sam was putting her hair up she felt arms wrap around her from behind and a kiss pressed to her shoulder. She leaned back into them and sighed, "Jack…"

"Really, you'd think they could handle something like this without us. Someday we'll get a proper vacation… or we could just run away." He smiled against her cheek.

She shook her head slightly, "We can't. You know we can't." Oh how she wished they could though. "We have a duty to our planet, and we can't give that up just yet. Maybe someday the universe will be kind enough to give us more than one day off before a crisis emerges."

He scoffed, "Our luck so far suggests otherwise. I think someday we'll just have to tell them they have to deal with it themselves. If only you weren't so smart. It always seems that you're the only one capable of figuring it all out."

She giggled, turning to give him a look, "There are others capable of doing what I do. I'm away from Earth often enough now that if that were true, the Earth would be gone by now."

He shrugged, stepping back to allow her to finish getting ready, "Perhaps."

Once they were both ready, him in his dress blues and her in BDUs, and had what they thought they'd need, she grabbed her communicator and commanded, "Major Franklin. This is Colonol Carter. We're requesting you beam me and General O'Neill to the SGC." There was no response on the other end, simply a flash of light that soon found them in the briefing room of the SGC.

General Landry walked out of his office, addressing the two officers, "Colonol, Jack, Good to see you. Malek here, is the one who brought us the news. I suppose you want to hear it from him."

They glanced at the familiar Tok'ra who came out of the general's office where they must have been talking. Jack glanced around the room, "Not waiting for SG-1 then?"

"No, we thought it best to inform you as soon as possible, then they were be informed when they return. Please, sit." General Landry gestured to the table and they each took their seats.

Malek hesitated before sitting across from and beginning, "One of our operatives has been following a minor goa'uld, Sopdu, to assess the danger. As you know, few Goa'uld are alive, and all are minor ones with no Jaffa at their disposal. We've been attempting to capture each, and remove the symbiote, but this one has proven difficult."

"So, what? You want our help in capturing him or even killing him?" General O'Neill gestured, exasperated around the table. "I still don't see why that requires me. Any SG team is capable of taking care of a minor Goa'uld. Or did you not get the memo that we're no longer on SG-1?"

Malek made a face, "I assure you, there is a reason you are required. If you'd simply allow me to explain why we are concerned. Our operative has found that this goa'uld has found some of Ba'al's technology and wishes to use it for his own devices. We didn't want him killed until we learned of his plans and what the technology was capable of since we've never seen it before." He paused, "We believe it is a time machine that Sopdu wishes to use for the purposes of gaining more power, perhaps bringing more power to all the Goa'uld before they lost any of it."

Colonol Carter held up her hand with a confused look, "What do you mean Ba'al had a time machine? I think if he had one he would have used it before he was killed."

Malek shifted uncomfortably, but also seemed to not know the answer. It was General O'Neill who provided it, "Maybe he did, but something went wrong or someone stopped him. He did mention it at the extraction ceremony, remember? We all brushed it off at the time because nothing happened, but… it's entirely possible something did."

Sam was about to respond then turned to him with an even more confused expression, "That's… very observant of you, sir. How did you figure that?"

He shrugged, smiling at the confused look, "Well it makes sense, and maybe I've just been listening to you too much."

She chuckled and turned back to Malek, "Alright, but that still doesn't explain what we're doing here. This is bad, very bad, but why don't you just kill him now?"

"We are trying, and should we succeed then this discussion won't matter, but should he escape and return to the past, we thought it imperative that you know of his plans. Sopdu plans to go back in time to before you'd made a large impact in the galaxy, and kill the original SG-1."

A look of surprise crossed both of the ex-SG-1 members, "Say again?" Jack asked incredulously. He waved his hand when Malek went to repeat himself, "You mean to tell me that your operative found out he has plans to change the past and kill us, but hasn't killed him yet?"

Malek's reply was indignant, "They have tried, and risked their lives many times simply to get this information. Sopdu may not have any Jaffa under his command, but he has found some of Anubis's super soldiers for his own use, and much of the technology from many former system lords. There have been few chances to kill him, and even those would get the operative killed."

"Yes, well now we kind of need him dead, so you know he doesn't go back in time and have us all killed. I seem to remember we have saved your asses a fair number of times, so any of you could die. Who's to say he'll stop at us, could kill plenty of Tok'ra while he's at it." General O'Neill was rather done with the idea that they were a hindrance until they were necessary.

General Landry butted in gently, trying to calm to irate General, "Jack, they're doing their best. They brought it to us because they know we are capable of travelling back in time, and if necessary saving everyone if this Goa'uld does in fact go back in time."

Carter sat up, and shook her head, "Sir, we can't. As much as we'll probably have to if he does go back in time, we can't do that. We have just as much of a chance of changing time, and if you're suggesting the original SG-1 go back then there's a high chance we'll run into ourselves which will change our past, and we can't do that. We could mess things up beyond recognition. Even if we go back, we have no way of guaranteeing that we'll stop him either. There's far too many possibilities."

General Landry nodded, "Which is why the Tok'ra have promised to try their best to kill Sopdu before any of this is necessary, but we need you, Doctor Jackson, and Teal'c to do this. We can't risk sending Colonel Mitchell or Vala since it's doubtful anyone would trust or believe them in the past, and they would be incapable of sneaking around without drawing attention. While you four will likely run into yourself, your past selves would be more likely to trust you than someone they've never met."

Sam made a frustrated noise, looking between Malek and General Landry then turned to General O'Neill in resignation, "He's right. If this Goa'uld does manage to go back in time then we're likely the best answer. I have been working on something in my spare time that could reduce many of our problems but we'd still have to be careful…"

General Landry looked up at this new information, "What have you been working on?"

"Well, it is a device that can cause someone to forget certain events or memories. It uses technology from the memory recall devices we've seen before, and some of my own ideas. It's not done though so I would have to finish that, and gather whatever else we would need. This could take some time." Sam admitted.

"Well, you have until the Tok'ra inform us that he has in fact travelled back in time, and they have failed in killing Sopdu." General Landry stood from the table then and nodded to her and Malek. "Get to work, Colonel. You can use whatever you need. Just remember we don't have a lot of time."

Carter nodded and stood, taking the dismissal to leave and head down to the labs, stopping to ask that her projects be transported from the Hammond to her lab.

The rest of them walked down to the gate so Malek could return to the Tok'ra home world with a promise to get them information as soon as possible. Once Malek had gone through the gate, Jack turned to Landry and gestured up the stairs, "Since we seem to have a moment, a word?"

Landry nodded and walked up to his office, taking a seat while Jack closed the door, "I know it's risky, but you have to see that this is our best option."

Jack waved his hand and shook his head, "I know that, and I also know Carter will do everything she can to make sure this goes as well as it possibly can, but I have to say, you're pushing her a little hard. I've tried to get her some time to relax, but it seems someone always needs her. She's going to crash and burn eventually."

"We know, but the truth is that we need her, and no one else can do this. You know it or you would have already made sure someone replaced her on at least half of those duties."

General O'Neill sighed tiredly, "You're right, but that doesn't mean I can't wish there was a way to lighten some of the load so… try not to put the weight of the world on her shoulders this time. She doesn't need it."

"I'll try, but I can't promise anything." General Landry shrugged. "We'll try to get all of you a break after this. Now did you really just come in here to tell me what I already know or was there something else?"

Jack made a bit of a face, finally sitting down across from the other man, "Officially, we need to discuss the Hammond. Someone needs to be put in charge while she's away. While Major Franklin is temporarily in charge, that is only while they stay in orbit. If they need to leave then there'll be a problem."

"Well, I believe a young Lieutenant Colonel is going to be missing half of his team while you're away. I'm sure he can manage." O'Neill nodded in agreement when the claxons went off, indicating an off world activation. Both Generals jumped up and hurried down to the gate room where soon SG-1 returned, looking rather surprised to see General O'Neill there.

Daniel slowly walked down the ramp to stand in front of his friend, "I thought you were on vacation."

"We were, but it turns out the universe has another idea for us." O'Neill shrugged, feeling tired, but glad to see his friends again. "It has the same plans for you too, though, so don't worry. We're stuck in the same boat. Now go shower, get checked out by Lam and then we have a briefing at… 0400." He made a face at his watch which he was just now noticing the time.

Daniel gave him a strange look, as did Vala and Colonel Mitchell. Teal'c just stood stoically to the side. General Landry was the one to tell them to get moving, and everything would be explained at the briefing. Once they left, General O'Neill turned to Landry, "I'm going to go check on Carter. See if she needs anything." He walked out without a reply.

He found her hunched over a device, trying to get organized by the look of it. He honestly wished he could tell her to take it easy, but he knew he couldn't, and so did she. He came up beside her to look at the device which he had heard of, but not actually seen before. She glanced up at him, sensing his presence beside her, but didn't say anything.

She worked in silence for a moment before he spoke up, "Everyone's back. There's a briefing in about a half hour, but you don't need to come since there likely won't be anything new to tell you. I'll get Daniel and Teal'c caught up, and it sounds like Mitchell is taking over the Hammond while you're gone."

Sam made a bit of a face, but nodded, "Makes sense. I think I can have this done in a couple days, but… It's going to include little to no sleep."

He winced, "I'm sorry. I tried to talk to Landry, but it seems we really don't have a choice. I've got your back though, as much as I can, anyways."

She turned to smile at him and nodded, "I know, thank you."

They fell back into a comfortable silence while she worked and he kept her company until he had to head up for the briefing. They figured it best that she keep working, and he'd bring SG-1 down once the briefing was over.


	2. Preparations

Jack O'Neill found he had a headache by the end of the briefing. Daniel kept asking questions, Mitchell kept wondering why he had to stay and take command of a ship, and Vala was upset she couldn't come with them or more specifically Daniel. Teal'c was the only quiet one in the group except he wasn't helping much either, adding a raised eyebrow to some of the questions Daniel asked. Finally they got through all the information, and Daniel had the job of finding out more information on this Goa'uld. Mitchell would be beaming up to the Hammond, and Teal'c would be getting ready to go. Vala would be temporarily borrowed by another team.

Jack stood as Landry dismissed them, scowling at Daniel who just shrugged, "Come on, Jack. You know I need to know more than just that a Goa'uld might try to kill us in the past." He paused then quickly continued. "You can't honestly make us believe that Sam agreed to this."

"Yeah, I don't buy that either." Mitchell added from the side. "Is she feeling okay?"

Jack growled in annoyance, "Other than being as sleep deprived as I am, if not more so, she's fine. She knows the stakes and she's taking precautions to avoid anything going wrong. Look, why don't we go down and see her. Then everyone has to get to work."

Mitchell breathed out slowly and nodded, "Right. Great."

They all headed down to Carter's lab with Vala and Daniel bickering in the back. If they weren't all Carter's friends Jack would tell them they couldn't see her so they didn't give her the headache he was currently sporting. Alas she'd want to see them even if she was tired. They would probably cheer her up.

Vala ran ahead once they reached the floor leading to Carter's lab. When they reached the lab she was being hugged tightly by the alien woman with a soft smile playing on Sam's lips. It had been awhile since she'd been able to see SG-1. Sam awkwardly hugged her back, turning to see the others enter the room. "Hey guys, good to see you."

A chorus of "Sam" and "Colonel Carter" was replied while Vala seemed unwilling to let her go. She finally did when Daniel tapped her shoulder so he could get a hug in. She stood then and turned to properly hug him. "Good to see you Sam. You look like you're doing well."

She nodded, "Yeah, been busy, you know. New world-ending crisis to deal with. Same old, same old."

He chuckled when he released her, allowing Teal'c to give her a proper hug. Teal'c seemed just as happy to see her even if he didn't show it like the others did, "It is wonderful to see you, Colonel Carter. You have been missed."

"Aw, getting into trouble without me?" She smiled teasingly up at Teal'c who nodded before he released her. Cam stepped up and swung an arm around her shoulder which she simply continued to smile in response to.

Daniel brought up what they had all been worried about, "Sam, are you sure about this? You're usually the last one to suggest we travel back in time."

She nodded reluctantly and replied with conviction, "We have to Daniel. If we don't then time changes anyways, and likely for the worse." She shook her head then gestured to the door, not letting them reply, "Well it's wonderful to see you all, but I'll be here for a couple of days, and it sounds like we all have to get back to work."

Jack echoed her with authority, "She's right, kids. Reunion over. You all have work to do, and we don't have a lot of time." They each had varying degrees of scowls sent in his direction, but Daniel headed off to his office with Vala, Mitchell headed out, but Teal'c stuck around since there wasn't a lot he could do to prepare for this.

Jack came up beside her while she turned back to the device she was working on, "Anything we could help with?"

She looked up as if just realizing they were both still in the room, "Ah… no, not really. Sorry. This is complicated, and it would be easier if I did it on my own." She gave them both an apologetic look.

"Ah, no worries. We'll leave you to that. Just let me know if you need anything. I'll be by later. Teal'c let's go get all the other things organized." Which included the paperwork it would take to let the four of them travel back in time. This would only be more of a headache, but at this point he was used to it.

Teal'c bowed his head to Carter, "Yes, let us know if you need anything. We will be making preparations for our journey." She nodded in return then turned back to the device.

Teal'c and O'Neill were given a room to use as an office during the time O'Neill was working here. They spent the morning helping O'Neill get the Ancient ship transported here from Area 51, figure out any other technology they might need for the trips as well as possible security cards since currently they didn't know when they'd have to travel back to. They got all the old SG-1 codes, but it all counted on the Tok'ra getting the information on when and where they needed to be.

Before they knew it, it was around noon and they figured they should take a break to eat. They both agreed to stop by Carter's office on the way to the commissary, finding her staring at her device. Jack came up beside her and looked at it, "How's it going?"

She shrugged and replied tiredly, "It's going fine enough, I guess. How's everything going on your end?"

He replied in slight frustration, "Ah, well it could be better. You know, need more information from the Tok'ra, but that isn't happening so, nothing we can do, but plan for everything. Anyways, that's not why we're here. We were heading for lunch and wondered if you wanted to join us?"

She looked from them to the device, "Ah… I should really keep working on this. We don't know how much time we have, could be days or an hour so I really need to finish this as well as get a couple other things together."

"Carter…" He gave her a reprimanding look. "You need to eat. Forget that you had little sleep last night-"

"Sir, I'll be fine, but we'll all be dead, or worse, if I don't figure this out. So while I appreciate it. I need to get this done." She gestured back at it, while Jack sighed.

"I could make it an order." She didn't even bother to respond beyond raising her eyebrow in a very Teal'c-esque look. "I'll be back with a sandwich then, maybe even some Jello." At least that got a smile out of her.

"Thank you, Sir." She replied quietly before turning back to her work.

A very similar conversation occurred that night when Jack tried to get her to sleep for at least a short time. He walked into her lab, this time without Teal'c who had gone to help Daniel with some translations. She was sitting and staring tiredly at the device, which to him looked complete, but he couldn't say for sure. He came up beside her, trying his best not to startle her, but still she managed to jump a little when he put his hand on her shoulder.

"You need to get some rest, Sam." He said softly.

She shook her head quickly, "I can't. I need to get this done, and I'm almost there. Once this is done then I'll have to grab whatever else we need, and probably help you with making sure we have all the security we need to slip in and out, or at least a cover story such as being from an alternate universe, but I'm honestly not sure that would fly." She paused for a moment and he almost thought she was done. "But this thing could at least give us a chance to explain to them without changing time, but I have to find a way to ensure only the memories we want are erased, not anything crucial, which takes a fair amount of fine tuning-"

"Sam…" When she kept going, he cut her off properly, "Carter!" She looked up in surprise then back down to the device. "Hey, no one's expecting you to do everything. I've got other things covered. I'm the one in command of this mission, so leave all of that to me." He grabbed both of her shoulders and leant down to her level, forcing her to look up at him. "You're exhausted. Neither of us got much sleep last night, and I'm sure you haven't slept well in days, so please, get some rest."

She glanced to the device ready to argue, but he gave her a look, "This is an order this time. At least a couple of hours and then you can come back to this. I need you thinking straight, and right now you're not." She nodded in resignation, and got up unwillingly. At least she locked up and followed him out of the room. It was something.

The next couple of days went about the same, O'Neill and Teal'c would work on figuring out what they needed and how to get it here as quickly as possible, while Carter worked on the device which grew to a couple devices she thought might be helpful if they ran into a situation, and Daniel learned what they could about the Goa'uld. Jack tried each afternoon and night to get Sam to eat and rest, which she usually refused or only took a short break to eat, fuel up on coffee or have a short rest.

It finally paid off when she showed up in his make-shift office with the device in hand and a huge grin on her face. She set it down on the table in front of him and Teal'c and proclaimed, "It works. I got it to work. There's still other work to do before we're fully prepared for this, but this helps a lot."

Her smile was infectious as he grinned back at her. Even Teal'c smiled and commented, "That is indeed wonderful, Colonel Carter."

Jack stood and walked around the desk, "Right, then here's what we're going to do. I'm going to take you to get a proper bite to eat and some rest before the four of us are going to brief each other on all the information we have so we're ready to go as soon as the Tok'ra arrive with the information we need." At this point they weren't banking on the Tok'ra being able to kill this Goa'uld. "No arguments. You've done well, now you need to eat and sleep."

Sam looked to Teal'c for some help, but he seemed to agree with O'Neill with his look. She supposed they were right and relented, getting up and following them to the commissary, only stopping to pick Daniel up along the way. The only stipulation was that there could be no talk about work while they ate. They all needed a break, and that was what this was.

"Come on, Sam you have to eat more than that." Daniel pointed at her with a fork when he noticed her picking at her food. "Here's the deal, you have to eat at least a tenth of whatever Teal'c eats."

She scowled at Daniel then looked to Teal'c's overflowing plate, "You make that sound like a little bit of food, but I'm not sure I can even eat a tenth of that."

"That's the point. Eat up." He jabbed his fork towards her then took a bite of his own meal.

Jack nudged one of the Jell-O's he'd brought towards her, "At least eat this. As much as I think you need more in you than Jell-O right now, it's at least something. And a pie or two."

She sighed and relented, taking a bite of the Jell-O, "Fine, fine."

She wasn't feeling all that hungry, but she made sure to eat since she probably did need the energy, and it was difficult to ignore Jack when he kept pushing pie towards her. The conversation turned back towards reminiscing and catching up on what had been going on beyond work. None of them had much of a life, but it was still fun to talk about, and it was like old times.

Near the end of the conversation Sam found she was having a hard time keeping her eyes open. With nothing to work on, the days without much sleep were catching up on her. All three of the men at the table realized this quickly, and Daniel said gently. "Why don't we all go get some sleep? We'll have a proper briefing tomorrow. I'm sure we have some time."

Jack held up a finger, "Ah, don't jinx is now or we're not getting any sleep." He turned to Sam who was rubbing a hand over her face, trying to stay awake now. "Come on, up you get." She pushed him off when he tried to help her up, but he grabbed her arm when she swayed. "I would offer to carry you to bed if I didn't think you'd kill me for even suggesting it."

She glared at him, proving his assumption right, "I'm fine, just stood up too fast." With that she left the commissary with Jack following behind her to their room. Daniel and Teal'c soon left to sleep as well.

O'Neill quickly followed her, finding her by the elevators, fishing out her phone with a frown on her face. She looked more awake all of a sudden as she quickly went through her phone. He came up beside her to see her scrolling through messages. He looked to her face which looked worried then back to the phone, "What's up?"

She looked up at him then back at the phone, "I was supposed to see Cassie while I was here. I completely forgot when everything happened until just now. Daniel said something that reminded me." She finally found a text conversation and opened it, sending a quick message about something coming up, and she'd see her afterwards. "It seems like something keeps coming up whenever I promise to spend time with her."

He nodded in understanding, but looked at her worriedly. Not only was she exhausted, but now she looked rather upset as well. She really had too much on her shoulders. "Alright, it's okay. I'm sure Cassie understands. Why don't you call her before we go to sleep? I'll even explain that something important came up so I'm the bad guy here instead."

Sam rolled her eyes and sighed, "There's no way you could be the "bad guy" to Cassie. She loves you too much."

"As she loves you." He led her into the elevator that had arrived with a hand on the small of her back. Cassie didn't respond until they were in the room. Jack grabbed the phone, gaining a squawk of protest from Sam, but he ignored her in lieu of calling Cassie. She answered after the second ring with a confused, "Hello?"

"Cassie! Long-time no see. How are you?" He ignored the glare he got from Sam for taking the phone from her.

"Uncle Jack! Is everything okay? Sam, said something came up, and you're with her, which I suppose makes sense since she was taking a vacation with you…" She finally took a breath, making Jack grin at the excited young girl.

He interrupted her before she could continue, "Everything is fine, Cassie. We just got called into work, and we'll be away for some time. Sam wanted to check in, and make sure that was okay." Sam frowned, but moved closer so she could hear Cassie's response.

"Yeah, everything's fine. I was just worried about you two. Everything's okay, right?" She sounded worried for her adopted family. While she was an adult and didn't need them anymore, she still considered them family, and visited whenever she could. She often came to Washington to visit Jack since the other members of SG-1 were often "away."

"We're fine. Perhaps a bit tired, but nothing we're not used to. I promise we'll come visit when we get back. Here, talk to Sam." He handed the phone to her, glad to see her smile gentled as soon as she heard Cassie start to regale her with tales of school and life.

It was longer than Jack would have liked before they went to bed, but Sam seemed calmer and happier after talking to Cassie. Sam, was, however, practically unconscious as soon as they both laid down to sleep.

Jack woke with Sam's head resting on his chest, and her hair splayed out. She looked peaceful, and he didn't want to move her, but he needed to check the time. While he wished he could let her sleep the day away, they didn't have that option if they wanted to make sure they had all the information they needed before the Tok'ra came to them with the bad news. He still held hope that they would never come, but he knew better than that.

He let her sleep for a little while longer when he realized it was still fairly early, but after about twenty minutes he brushed his hand through her hair and nudged her shoulder gently with his other hand while calling her name, "Sam, time to wake up." She groaned and turned her head more into his chest, making him smile, "Carter, we need to get going." Her last name got a bit more of a reaction out of her at least.

Finally, she looked up at him blearily then turned to look at her watch and groaned, burying her face back into his chest, which made him let out a soft laugh. She mumbled something that was muffled by his shirt, but it sounded suspiciously like "Five more minutes."

"Carter, while I would happily let you sleep longer, we really need to get going. If we get through this briefing and have everything ready then I'll let you sleep until the Tok'ra show up." He finished regrettably. They really didn't have a break. After this, he was demanding a proper vacation for both of them. He didn't care if the world ended, let it end.

She looked up at him tiredly, sighing and putting her head back down for a moment. In the field she could be awake in a moment, but she didn't need to be up quickly like in the field; however she need they needed to get up now. They could be called away at any moment, and they weren't ready.

She rolled off him and sat up, shaking the sleep away then got up and dressed, while he did the same. They came to the office to find Daniel and Teal'c already there. They both eyed Sam who looked tired, but a bit better than before. Daniel held out two cups of coffee for them both. Sam smiled at the offer, grateful for something to wake her up.

Daniel cleared his throat and passed out some papers to them before he started to quickly explain, "From what I found on Sopdu, or Septu as he was sometimes referred as, he was a fairly minor god of the sky and teeth." He made a face while the others looked up in surprise.

Jack asked slowly as if unsure if he heard him right, "Teeth?"

"Uh, yeah. He was said to protect the teeth from decaying. That's not what's important, what is, is that according to the information I managed to get from the Tok'ra he does actually enjoy collecting teeth from his enemies along with anything else he can scavenge. That's how he has some Super Soldiers and some of Ba'al's technology at his disposal."

General O'Neill, now unsure he even wanted to go after this guy, held up his hands, "Hold up. He gathers the teeth of his enemies? Why? No forget that question, how does this help us?"

Daniel gave Jack a frustrated look, "It tells us what we're up against really. It's going to be a huge mix of technology, and we have no idea what to expect. He could have Ori technology for all we know, so we need to be prepared for everything. We'll definitely need the best Super Soldier disrupter we have since whenever he goes back to certainly isn't going to have the ability to stop those things if they come with him. Honestly, the point is, we have to expect the unexpected."

Sam shook her head, "But at the same time, we cannot allow any of the technology we bring to be left in the past. It could change things for the worse even though it might seem like it'll be better. We have to take every precaution we can while also ensuring that time isn't changed, or as little as possible."

"You're right, but you also know we have to do this. If we don't then time changes anyways. If that wasn't the case then you would have never agreed to do this." Daniel gave her a pointed look while she scowled in return, taking a sip of her coffee.

General O'Neill looked between the two of them, "Alright so we need to bring whatever we can, but we need to ensure that only we use it. Especially if we run into a younger Carter, she'll want to take a look at all of it and pick your brain." He gestured towards Carter who nodded. "We'll have to be careful, so I want you and Daniel to make a list of what we need and gather all of that. Get it into the ship, and hope we have some time before we have to go, but no promises."

Daniel nodded, "We just have to remember that while he's a minor Goa'uld, he's still incredibly dangerous. I'd rather not have my teeth added to his… collection."

O'Neill made a face then a shooing motion, "Dismissed. Go get everything." He gathered the report Daniel had made, staring down at it while Carter and Daniel hurried off to get everything ready. Teal'c came to stand beside him, "For once I would like a Goa'uld that is somewhat normal, you know? Not teeth collecting ones that have a weird semblance to the tooth fairy. You know, I always thought that story was weird. What person wants to pay for the teeth of children?"

"I do not know, O'Neill, but I do know that Sopdu is not to be underestimated." Teal'c replied gravely.

"Yeah, I know. At this point, I think we all know that. He's trying to go back in time to kill us. I'd say that's a reason not to underestimate him."

Teal'c hummed in agreement, looking in the direction Carter and Daniel had just left, "Colonel Carter will ensure that we are prepared to stop him, I am sure."

O'Neill made a face, looking to the door then to his friend, "Yeah, and that worries me more than anything."

"O'Neill?" Teal'c rose his eyebrow. "Colonel Carter is a formidable warrior who is capable of many things. I am sure she will be able to complete this mission to the best of her ability."

"Oh, I know that. I'm not questioning her abilities. It's just… She's got the whole weight of the world on her shoulders thing going on, even now. She's slept less than we have, and that's saying something. I'm just worried she's going to push herself too hard."

"She has done so in the past many times and was fine. She is quite capable. We will be there to support her in whatever way we can."

O'Neill nodded and tossed the papers into a pile, "Yeah, you're right. You need to go make sure you have a proper supply of tretonin. We can't have you running out while we're in the past."

"Colonel Carter has assured me she will bring an Asgard device that can make more if I need it, but I will make sure to have enough."

He gestured to the door anyways, "Then go make sure that gets done anyways." Teal'c bowed to him then left, leaving the General to figure out how to get an impossible mission done without leaning completely on Carter. He also needed to go through as many reports as he could for the time they thought Sopdu might return to. He wanted to know everything he could in advance to give them a chance in winning this battle.

Their best guess was that he might come sometime before they met the Tok'ra. The problem was they wouldn't know for sure unless the Tok'ra could see when he left to specifically, at which point they'd have little time to learn and remember what had happened during that time period. In all honesty he could kill them any time before the downfall of the System Lords.

And as much as they all hoped and prayed to whatever God was listening that they'd have enough time, of course they didn't. The universe was never that kind. Teal'c and O'Neill were packing while Daniel and Carter were going over the information they thought they might need when the alarm went off. They all ran to the control room, watching as a couple Tok'ra came in., grim expression on their faces.

All four walked down to the control room, hesitantly greeting them. Before they could say anything beyond "Welcome." Malek spoke quickly and determinedly, "You must leave as soon as you can. We have what we believe to be the Earth year that he has travelled back to, and the planet he travelled to, but we cannot confirm that he remained on that planet. You must stop him and return him to the present or dispose of him in the past."

General O'Neill stared at him for a second then turned to his ex-team, "Let's suit up then." He turned back to the Tok'ra who held out what looked to be a scroll with the information on it. He snatched it then headed off to get ready with his team. Soon enough they were suited up, and heading towards the ship, gathering whatever last-minute things they could, but they really were racing against time at this point.

Vala was waiting for them outside the ship when they arrived. General O'Neill walked past her into the ship to get it ready, but the rest stopped, giving her brief hugs from Teal'c and Sam. Daniel stopped in front of her, a contemplative look on his face before he hugged her tightly, "We'll be back. I promise."

"You better be. If I didn't think you could do this, and it would be worse for me to come along then I'd be coming with you. Just… Stay safe. All of you." Vala pushed him away with a sad smile then nodded. She knew they had to do this, but that didn't stop her from worrying. With them dead, she would likely be dead herself, and wouldn't have the friends and family she had now.

With the ship closed and O'Neill sitting at the front they figured it best to transport in time to this very room, hoping no one would be present when they arrived, but it was better than chancing someone finding the ship outside in the world. Chances were the jumper bay would be empty, so it seemed to be a reasonable hope.

Jack, now completely in command mode turned to Carter and Daniel, handing them the notes, "Where to, kids?"

Daniel scanned over it quickly, "Well seems he went to early 2000 so I would say try for some time in January 2000. They didn't give us a date so… Just try to think of that." Jack nodded and closed his eyes, powering up the ship and the time device within. Sam had helped connect that over the days in her spare time, but at least left much of it to the other scientists, believing them to be somewhat capable. As they held on and felt a sudden jolt they happily realized it had worked, and they seemed to get whenever they were before Sopdu did anything to stop them.


	3. Trust and Secrets

They all sat in silence as General O'Neill lifted his hands from the ship's console, tilting his head to look outside, "Looks the same… Please tell me that worked or at least that we're not about to re-enact the Wizard of Oz." When he just got confused looks, he gestured under him, "You know, squishing people under ships… or houses. Just please tell me we're both in the past, and we didn't squish anyone."

Carter stood and went to the back, opening the ship to see that the equipment they had in the room was different at least, and some had been thrown by the ship likely suddenly appearing, "Well a bit of squished equipment, but that's nothing we can't fix. There's no ships here, but there wasn't when we left either. I don't think anyone's in here. Cloak the ship just in case, and then we'll have a look around."

O'Neill did as he was told, but as he stepped out and closed the door on the ship, he shot her a look, "Let's get one thing straight here, I am in charge of this mission."

She smiled and nodded, "Yes, sir." He returned the smile, showing while he was serious, he wasn't upset that she was giving off orders anyways. She certainly had changed over the years. She walked over to the door, frowning slightly and grabbing one of the many security cards from her pocket, "Uh, January 2000. Remember which one would work?"

They all looked over her shoulder as she flipped through it then picked one that looked right, finding that one didn't work. They worked through her whole pile, unfortunately discovering that none of them worked. Well it had been worth a try. She stuffed them in a pocket then looked at the panel and sighed, "Give me a moment, and I'll get us through."

General O'Neill looked at her then nodded, knowing better than to question her abilities, even if that including breaking into and out of rooms at the SGC. In fact it didn't take her much time at all. "You know, that doesn't give me any confidence in our systems."

She flashed him a grin, "Don't worry sir. There aren't many people who know how to do that. I just have extensive knowledge of the SGC systems."

"Yes." He responded while drawing out the word. "Why I learned quickly not to get on your bad side."

Daniel cut into the small squabble, "And yet, you did anyways." He grinned when Jack scowled at him. "Shall we?" He gestured out into the now open corridor.

They looked out, glad to see the corridor was empty. Carter gestured to the door, "I can seal this. It won't keep them out forever, but it might keep them from finding the ship on accident. At least for now."

O'Neill nodded, and waved for her to do so. She got to work while the rest of them stood guard. Daniel looked around nearby for any clue that they had in fact made it to the year 2000 and in time to stop the Goa'uld.

Sam had just finished sealing off the room when they heard noises from nearby. They all froze and O'Neill gestured for them to move and hide in a side corridor nearby. Even if they got caught. They needed to stop the past from getting a hold of the ship and the things they'd left in there. They'd have to go back to it, but that was something to deal with another time.

They managed to reach the elevators before they were surrounded by airmen, all pointing guns at them. They rose their hands and turned to the now confused airmen who slowly lowered their guns, but many realized they didn't look quite right for the SG-1 they knew. Well, they'd tried to sneak in. Jack shrugged, muttering to the others, "Guess we should have travelled outside, eh?"

Daniel shrugged, "We do need to get in, so it would have been just as hard, if not harder to infiltrate the base that way."

Jack nodded, "Yeah, okay." He rose his hands up higher and backed up a step when an airman pointed more aggressively at him. "Hey, okay, okay. No need to get angry here, just talking. Now, take us to your leader." He gestured

Daniel and Carter coughed in amusement, Carter responding snarkily, "You know that's not going to make this any better. Now they think we're alien imposters."

"Oh, but perhaps we are."

"Shut up, and come with us." An Airman barked, gesturing for them to enter the elevator. They did as they were told, not overly fond of the idea of being shot by their own people.

One was being especially aggressive, nudging Sam with the butt of his gun into the elevator. She shared a look with the General, but he gave a slight shake of his head to tell her it was a bad idea. They didn't want to hurt any airmen, and they wouldn't get far in the most secure place on Earth anyways. Their best chance was to talk to General Hammond, and hope he understood.

While the airmen seemed to be taking the precaution of not taking their guns off them just yet, they also still seemed confused. Carter's hand seemed to twitch towards her zat, but only O'Neill noticed the small twitch, feeling the urge himself. However, they all knew that even if they took care of the few airmen in the elevator, there would be more on the other side that would be ready to fight. They didn't want to hurt anyone anyways, and they needed to stay in the SGC, not get kicked out.

They were brought to an empty room and shoved in. With a gun held to them, they were gestured to give them the Zats. They handed them over reluctantly. Hopefully they could get them back, although it wasn't like Zats weren't easy to replace.

O'Neill turned and called out as they left, "Hey! Make sure you bring Hammond! We need to talk to him." He got a glare in return before the airman walked out. O'Neill turned to his team who all looked amused, "You'd think they'd be nicer with the possibility of harming a superior officer. If I was actually Colonel O'Neill who happened to look older then they could be in a fair bit of trouble."

"Except you are not, O'Neill. You are General O'Neill, and we are in fact not supposed to be here." Teal'c responded while calmly leaning against the wall.

Colonel Carter pointed at O'Neill with a teasing smirk, "But he has aged quickly before. So it's not out of the possibility. I have to say, he looks better like this than he did then…" She laughed when Daniel rolled his eyes at her.

The General waved them off, starting to pace the room. Daniel sat against the wall, pulling a bouncy ball from his pocket. Carter leaned against the wall by Daniel, watching the ball bounce around the room. They hadn't been searched, but the few things they had in their pockets likely couldn't do much against all the fire-power on this base. If no one listened then they were royally screwed.

After a moment of the only noise being the bouncy ball bouncing around the room, Jack finally said what he'd been mulling over in his mind, "Okay, but I don't get it. Why the year 2000? This is after we've met the Tok'ra, after we've destroyed some major Goa'uld, why now?"

Daniel caught the ball and shrugged, "How should I know? There's many reasons why now, and one of them could be that he didn't have a lot of choice in when he arrived in the past like we did, or maybe this is part of his plan. It's hard to say."

Jack made a frustrated noise, frowning at the ground in thought, "So now what?"

Daniel replied sarcastically, "Well we convince them not to kill us, let us work with ourselves, and then go find Sopdu."

Sam saved Daniel from the reply that would likely accompany the murderous look he was given, "I think what the General meant was a bit less general than that. We get them to trust us with as little information as possible, and then we continue with that plan. We can't tell them a lot, but we'll have to play it by ear. We'll try to tell them as little as possible, but I know things will slip or will have to come out at some point."

Jack nodded, glancing at her to see she was playing with the chain of her dog tags. He rose his eyebrow at her, speaking once he caught her attention, "So what exactly should we try our hardest not to tell them?"

She thought for a moment, "We probably shouldn't tell them that we're married. As close as we might have been in early 2000, I'm not sure bringing up that they'll someday get married will go over too well."

He shrugged, "I think they'll live, and they'll forget it later, anyways. They've survived knowing we were married or engaged in alternate realities."

"I feel like that's a little different, but I suppose so." She shrugged, looking to Daniel and Teal'c. "What do you think?"

"I think it's up to you two whether that information is shared. It's not our marriage, after all." Daniel supplied with a vague gesture at the two of them. "I think if we're going to avoid talking about your relationship, we should try to avoid any relationships being known. Not that they'd know who we're with, but I don't see how it'll be important to the mission. I agree that playing it by ear might be easiest, just whatever happens to be important for the mission."

Jack nodded, "He's right. This mission is going to have far too many surprises. The Tok'ra seem to have done it again, not giving us nearly enough information." He growled out the last part, not surprised when no one answered and the bouncy ball started to bounce around the room again.

General Hammond was having one hell of a day. There were reports everywhere, teams coming back hot, and now an airman was standing in his office with the most ridiculous of stories. The fact that his front-line team, who was supposed to have the weekend off after a long week, was on the base. Not only were they on the base, but they looked "different," whatever that meant, and they were asking to talk to him. Sometimes he thought nothing more would surprise him, but somehow SG-1 always proved him wrong.

Once it seemed that every airman was freaking out over this, he decided to go and talk to them. It seemed SG-1's vacation might be cut short if he thought they needed to be brought in for this. If this was them doing something stupid, then there would be hell to raise.

He came to the room and nodded for it to be opened. He was certainly not prepared for what he saw on the other side. A bouncy ball was being tossed around the room. Why they had a bouncy ball, he had no idea. Besides that, they looked like SG-1, but entirely different. All four of them looked older, even Teal'c, but besides that they also looked different. Samantha Carter, who had stood at attention when he entered, had long hair tied back in a high pony tail. Jack O'Neill's hair was certainly grayer, but something else seemed different about him. Daniel's glasses were different, and Teal'c had hair with a white streak running along the side.

He stared at them each in turn until Jack stepped forward with a friendly smile, "Heya, George. Good to see you. I'm sure it's been a long day, but we kind of need your help."

General Hammond looked confused at who he knew to be Colonel O'Neill, "Excuse me?"

General O'Neill grinned back, glancing at Carter who was still standing at attention, but he didn't bother to tell her not to, "Well it's a lot to explain, but we also can't say much. Carter?"

She glanced at her CO, who seemed far too excited by this, then back to General Hammond, "Um… well. We're not the SG-1 you know, nor are we from an alternate reality like you might think. We're from the future."

She got a scowl for that, which she honestly wasn't expecting. If anything, she expected General Hammond to be easier to convince than Colonel O'Neill. General Hammond turned and walked out the door before she could say anything more. She looked to General O'Neill who just shrugged. A moment later, an airman came in with equipment to record. Seemed they were to be questioned. Well, this would be fun.

Of course they all knew they couldn't say much, and especially not for anyone to hear, so they stone-walled the questions. Finally it took General O'Neill telling the airman with quite the air of authority, "Look, we're not going to tell you anything. We will only speak to General Hammond or members of SG-1. Unless you want us to outright lie, you won't get any information out of us. You are wasting your time." He emphasized each word of his last sentence.

Finally the frustrated men grabbed the equipment and left. They were left alone in the room with nothing but a bouncy ball to amuse them. Apparently the bouncy ball had been determined to not be any threat so they'd been left with it.

Colonel Carter turned to her CO who was still scowling at the door, "You know, scaring the poor airmen probably isn't going to help out our situation."

He shrugged, glancing towards her, "It's worked in the past. Don't see why it won't now."

"There was a small difference then. You were the commander of this base, not an intruder. It tends to make a difference." She shrugged, and he just sighed, snatching the bouncy ball from where Daniel had been mindlessly bouncing it.

They sat around for probably an hour before the door opened again. They expected either that General Hammond had come back, or the airmen were told to try again. They were not expecting to see a short woman in the form of their former doctor to walk through with quite a bit of equipment. Each of the four froze with varying degrees of sad looks on their face. Everyone looked down, some flinching a bit. Sam had known she'd run into friends and colleagues she knew to be dead, but somehow she hadn't thought of how much it would hurt to see them, yet be unable to stop what would inevitably happen. General Hammond they had all been prepared to see, and with his death recent, it didn't seem as bad, but this seemed much worse.

Doctor Fraiser looked at each of them in turn, not sure what to make of them or the expressions on their face. "I was ordered to find out who you really are, and make sure you're not imposters. I'm going to have to do some tests if that's okay." To her surprise they all nodded, agreeing easier than even SG-1 normally agreed to her tests.

She decided to bring up some sort of conversation as she started to take Sam's blood, "I hear you won't tell anyone where you're from or why you're here. If you're not alien imposters, mind telling me why you're here or who you are?"

Sam smiled at least, "We can't tell you that, Janet. Or even if we did, I don't think you'd believe us. We're simply trying to keep everyone safe."

Daniel piped up from his position against the wall, "Her blood tests are going to tell her at least one thing, Sam. You might as well tell her. Besides, there's no cameras to record us now."

Sam looked to him then back to the Doctor, "You're right. I'm sure you've noticed that we look different." She waited while Doctor Fraiser roamed her eyes over each of them. "We do, only because we're from the future. The blood you're currently taking will indicate that if you test for it. We have our reasons for being here which is why we need General Hammond and SG-1 to listen to us. You could help us."

General O'Neill, catching on to what she was doing stepped in, "What she's asking is if you would verify our story with these blood samples and then talk to General Hammond and convince him to bring SG-1 in so we can talk to them."

Dr. Fraiser finished taking blood from Sam, pressing the cotton to her arm. She replied with a nod of understanding, "I'll do my best, but I must warn that they won't appreciate being brought in on their weekend off. Even if it is themselves."

They all smiled, and O'Neill replied, "They'll live."

Dr. Fraiser turned to him, holding up the needle which he agreed to by holding his arm out to her. She frowned and assessed calmly, "You know, by being so agreeable, you're making me think you are imposters. Colonel O'Neill would never agree to tests so easily."

Sam and Daniel snickered, and the noise from Teal'c sounded suspiciously like a laugh covered by a cough. General O'Neill frowned at his former team, "Well, at the moment, I understand it's important."

Dr. Fraiser finished with the rest of them, setting the vials of blood down. After sending the blood down to be tested in the labs, she turned to do a more thorough testing on the mysterious group. She wasn't sure that she believed them, but she knew better than to think their story impossible. She checked for Goa'uld or anything else they could be, but found nothing unusual. The only strange thing was that Teal'c would not allow her to see his symbiote, insisting it was fine.

She left, finding them all healthy, if not a little tired. She'd see if they could get them somewhere to rest, but she was sure that wouldn't happen until it was confirmed that they weren't a threat. Somehow she couldn't shake the looks she received from all of them when she entered the room, though. It meant something, but she wasn't sure what.


	4. Hello Me

The bouncy ball was back out as soon as Janet left. That is until an irate and tired Colonel snapped from the corner, "Can you cut that out?"

Daniel caught the ball quickly, turning a worried look towards Sam. He wasn't sure if it was the fatigue or the fact that she'd seen her long dead best friend that was making her angry, or both. He didn't really want to find out. They had run into an alternate Janet a couple of years ago, but he could see there was still pain lingering for all of them. Losing someone close to you was never easy.

After a moment, Jack walked over to her and slid along the wall to sit beside her. He spoke quietly so they could all hear, but Daniel had to strain to do so, "You should get some rest."

He gained a withering glare for that comment, but he didn't back down. She scoffed and pulled her knees up and resting her head on them. "Sorry, sir."

He smiled and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, "It's okay to miss her, Sam. Even after all this time, but we have a mission to do, and I need you in top form. We've been questioned all morning, and we've now seen two ghosts. I think that warrants being tired and a little snappy, especially with how little rest you've gotten over the last week." He gave her a look and she smiled in response. "I know it's not all that comfy, but try to get some rest."

She leaned her head against his shoulder and closed her eyes. Apparently General O'Neill gave Teal'c and Daniel a look too because when she opened them again, they were all sitting down, trying to get some rest on the hard concrete floors. She didn't mind when the bouncing of a ball started again a couple minutes later, this time lulling her into a light rest.

After a couple of hours with each of them getting some light sleep, Jack nudged Sam gently to wake her when he heard someone coming. She sat up quickly, indicating she hadn't been sleeping all that deeply, if at all. They all stood as whoever it was opened the door. An SF came in and told them that they were expected in the briefing room. Well, it was a start.

They walked out of the room, and down to the briefing room where they were told to wait just outside, while the SF went Hammond's office to inform them of their arrival. When they were allowed in, they weren't quite expecting the surprise of a younger SG-1 on the other side.

Colonel O'Neill stood quickly and let out a "What!" while Daniel jumped up in surprise, and what seemed to be a "Major" Carter sat up, frowning at each of them. Even Teal'c seemed to be glaring. All four of them were taking in the appearance of the duplicates until finally Colonel O'Neill turned to General Hammond, "I thought that mirror was destroyed."

Before General Hammond could respond, General O'Neill stepped in for him, "It was, don't worry. We're not from an alternate dimension or universe or whatever it is, if that's what you think. No, it's actually a bit more complicated than that." He ignored the wry smile Colonel Carter gave him.

The younger Daniel looked absolutely confused and dumbfounded, "How can it be more complicated than an alternate reality? Are you alien imposters or…? Why do you look so different?"

"Teal'c, what's with the hair?" Colonel O'Neill asked, staring at Teal'c who had a full head of hair and a white streak to add to it.

The elder team cracked smiles while General Hammond tried to calm SG-1 down, "Dr. Fraiser has at least confirmed some of their story. They say they are from the future, and it seems their blood indicates they may be some years older, but there is no doubt that they are you."

Major Carter finally piped up, coming out of her shock, "You can't do that. You should know you can't do that." She pointed an accusatory glare at herself. "You could change everything simply by being here."

Colonel Carter smiled and nodded, "Trust me, I know. We didn't have a choice in this. We're also taking… precautions. Can we…?" She gestured to the empty seats at the table, looking to General Hammond for permission. He nodded and they all sat at the end of the table.

General O'Neill looked around at the few SFs scattered around the room. "I hate to ask this, but can we have everyone else stand outside the room? The less people who hear anything we tell you, the better." When everyone paused, he blew out a breath slowly, wishing he was still in charge of this base and could just order them to do so. "Look, you have all of our weapons, and they'll be right outside if something happens. You have to trust us."

General Hammond nodded, gesturing for the SFs to leave and close the door. It wasn't completely private, but it would have to do for now. Colonel Carter figured it was best to ask first, "What have you told them?"

"Well, as you can see from their reactions, nothing. Not that you have told anyone but Dr. Fraiser anything at all. You said you'd talk to me and SG-1, so talk." The order was obvious, but in the end, the elder group didn't answer to General Hammond anymore.

Colonel Carter looked to General O'Neill who nodded for her to continue. She turned back to General Hammond and explained carefully, "We have to be careful about what we divulge to you. Like... I said," She gestured to her younger self, "we shouldn't be here. We have a device that can erase all memory of this when we're done, but it would be easier if there was less memory to erase, and less people who remembered us. What we need to know is the date and your last mission so we at least have an idea of what we can and cannot say."

Colonel O'Neill shook his head, looking a bit irritated, "You don't get to go making demands here, Carter. If you really are from the future, then you know how command works, and how this works. We ask questions and you answer."

"Actually, Colonel. You are not my superior officer, so I don't have to listen to your orders. Also, we only need this information so we don't give away information about your future that you could possibly change. Why don't I tell you what I can then we'll go from there." Colonel Carter gave him a steely look that bordered on a glare before again she glanced at General O'Neill, but he didn't seem keen to stop her. "If we landed on the right date then you" pointing at Major Carter, "have been a major for a few months. You recently defeated Hathor, Seth, and Sokar. You also recently met a Doctor Samantha Carter, and Major Kawolski from an alternate universe and helped them return home. Am I right so far?"

Major Carter nodded slowly. The elder Daniel interjected for Sam, giving her a bit of a break from the scowls they were all receiving, "Look, you can ask us any information you wish to know to prove who we are, but we need you to believe us. We're here to keep you safe. The reason we came back was to keep you all from getting killed."

"Daniel." A sharp warning came from General O'Neill. Colonel Carter shook her head and interjected quickly, "No sir, he's right. They need to know."

"Carter, you're the one who told me not to let them know too much" He was trying his best not to raise his voice, for now ignoring the bewildered looks of their younger selves.

"I did… but at this point I don't know what else to do, but tell them what they need to know in order to trust us. We don't know when that Goa'uld will try to strike. We're lucky it wasn't while they were off-world."

General O'Neill growled, shaking his head. He didn't know why he expected this mission to be anything but impossible. Colonel O'Neill spoke up, eyeing him warily, "Alright, let's start over then. How about that? Why don't you properly introduce yourselves? Name, rank, and why you're here then we'll go from there." He paused then continued while the older-looking team shared looks. "Like let's say Carter. Every time we meet you with long hair you're a doctor, so is it Doctor Carter then?"

Colonel Carter turned slowly towards him with an amused look, "No. I didn't leave the military. I simply decided to grow my hair out. It's Colonel."

He looked confused for a moment while Major Carter looked a bit surprised, "What?"

This time she smiled, and shook her head, "Colonel Samantha Carter, sir. This is Lieutenant General Jack O'Neill, Doctor Daniel Jackson, and Teal'c. Same people, just some years added on."

General O'Neill chuckled when he heard himself whisper, "Lieutenant General…" sounding quite impressed.

The younger Doctor Jackson nodded thoughtfully, "That makes sense. You all look a fair bit older, and it's fair to assume both Sam and Jack would get promotions over the years. I assume that means Jack is no longer with SG-1 though, so why are you all here?"

General O'Neill shifted with a frown, "No, I'm not, and neither is Carter, but from the information we received this seemed like the best option for both gaining your trust, and stopping this Goa'uld."

They looked confused still or at least unsettled but continued on with another question from Jack, "Alright, but if some Goa'uld is trying to kill us, don't you think we could handle it ourselves? We've handled things so far, and obviously we do for years to come, so what gives?"

Everyone turned to Colonel Carter who understood this best, so she sighed and explained, "The Goa'uld has come back in time to kill you, and even if he doesn't kill you, he could wreak havoc on the timeline, changing things for better or for worse. We have no way of knowing so our best option was to travel back in time and either kill him or bring him back to the present where he can't do quite as much harm. Besides, this Goa'uld has technology and knowledge from the future. Without us, he'll be a step ahead of you at every turn."

They still didn't seem to believe them, making her sigh again, and turn to General O'Neill with a pointed look. She was far too tired for this. It took him a moment, but he nodded when he figured out what she wanted, other than for him to take over, "Why don't you let us show you some of what we brought as an example? At least bring our equipment back. I believe there was something in there…?" He looked to Colonel Carter questioningly, and she nodded in affirmation.

Daniel jumped in quickly before they could refuse the offer, "From the data we have from the Tok'ra, we have reason to believe that this Goa'uld brought much more than just the knowledge of the future with him. The technology and weapons he has will far surpass anything you currently have, and things that took us a lot of time and effort to make."

General O'Neill nodded to him. Honestly, he should just let Daniel do the talking. People tended to trust and believe him far more often. Even with all his dealings at the Pentagon, he still wasn't the best at negotiating so much as he was intimidating them into doing what needed to be done.

After a moment of whispered discussion at the younger end of the table, General Hammond told Major Carter to have their things brought here. They'd have to ensure nothing was taken, even if most of their stuff had been left back at the ship.

After a couple of moments of awkward silence, their things were brought to them. The zats were placed away from them, but everything else was given back. Colonel Carter quickly fished through her vest and pulled out the Super Soldier modulator that would be put in a gun. She had figured they'd need something to convince them, but she didn't want to carry around both the modulator and gun; therefore, modulator without the gun.

It shone colourfully under the briefing room lights. SG-1 looked at it in fascination, and Major Carter even reached out, wanting to inspect it. Colonel Carter held it away with a bit of an admonishing smile, "As much as I'd love for you to be able to look at this and know how to make this without all the pain it took, we both know I can't do that."

Major Carter paused, getting a similar reprimanding look from Colonel O'Neill. Colonel Carter continued, "In a couple of years there will be Goa'uld soldiers that cannot be killed by means of normal weapons. It took months and a lot of work and pain to make a device that can pierce through their armour in order to kill them. Now, we aren't sure if this Goa'uld has any, but there's a chance he might, in which case we want some way of defeating them. Understand?"

General Hammond nodded in agreement then turned to Colonel O'Neill, "Tell them about what's been happening and your last couple of missions."

Colonel O'Neill shifted uncomfortably then responded, "The last mission was to a lovely little planet called… Maiva? Maiv. Something like that. Before that if I remember correctly it was P2X-416. Honestly, how far back do you want us to go?" He received a glare from his three teammates, so he continued uncomfortably while the elder group tried to think of what he was talking about, but honestly they'd been on so many missions that it was hard to remember little missions or the coordinates.

Colonel O'Neill continued after clearing his throat, "Well I suppose what you would remember is the mission to Tollana. Kind of went sideways."

Colonel Carter tensed, looking right at him, although surprised when she felt a hand on her knee, trying to be comforting, "Which mission to Tollana?"

SG-1 looked at her nervously, not sure what she was saying since they hadn't had many bad missions to Tollana. General O'Neill was the one to respond, "The time I went undercover and pretended to go dark-side." Colonel Carter felt the hand gently squeeze her leg, an answer that no one else heard. They'd never really talked about what had happened then much, but it seemed he knew what she was thinking and feeling. "And before that when I was stuck for a hundred days. You've had a rough month. It's good to know though. That gives us an idea of what's going on."

Even Daniel looked a bit uncomfortable at the memory. He frowned down at the table, while an uncomfortable silence settled over all of them. Amazingly it was Colonel Carter who broke the silence, "Why now though? Technology is relatively low still, but why not before a couple Goa'uld had been knocked off the map, or before we met the Tok'ra? What's the point of coming now?"

Their Daniel responded, "Actually I have a theory about that. We're chasing after a minor Goa'uld after all, so perhaps he wanted us to get rid of some of the bigger powers so he could step in to fill their place or at least have less competition. He's a collector, so the less Goa'uld that are around, the more power he can gain. He also probably didn't have a lot of choice in when he came to unless he somehow had a ship like ours, which I doubt."

Nods of agreement went around the table, but the younger Teal'c asked solemnly, "Which Goa'uld have you come to hunt?"

Daniel responded quickly, "The Goa'uld Sopdu. We honestly haven't run into him until now, which is amazing considering. I'll tell you everything we know about him, but we need to spend our time figuring out where he is, so we can stop him. He could cause a lot of havoc in the past."

The rest of the briefing turned into a very brief overview of Sopdu, then a discussion of what needed to be done, which at this point, wasn't much. Unfortunately the most they could do was try to protect their younger selves, but it was also important they found Sopdu before he tried to destroy something else that could have the exact same effect as killing them.

When General Hammond dismissed them, General O'Neill quickly came around to his side, after patting Carter's knee softly. He spoke quietly, but still loud enough for them all to hear, "Look, I know you have little reason to trust us, and I get that, but I'd appreciate if we could get a place to properly rest. We honestly haven't slept much in days, and it'd be better to be well rested before we start all of this."

Colonel Carter protested before General Hammond could respond, "Sir, I'm fine, and we should really get to work…"

He shot a look at her, "We have time, Carter. I'd rather you at the top of your game than exhausted after a week with, what? Five hours of sleep?"

She sighed, knowing she wouldn't win this argument with him. General Hammond nodded and quickly had an airman arrange a room for them. Colonel O'Neill was asked into his office while the other three warily left the briefing room to do whatever they were going to do. General O'Neill came up beside his team, watching the meeting in the office that they couldn't hear through the closed door.

"He's telling him that he's in charge. He doesn't trust us, not yet. He knows better than to just accept what we tell him, so it's safer to put him in charge."

The others nodded in understanding. They'd run into a similar problem when the alternate teams had come through with one ending up having malicious intent. If they'd completely trusted them then there would have been a problem for sure.

Colonel O'Neill left with a glance towards them, likely heading off to talk with his team. They waited until an airman escorted them down to a room, grabbing all of their vests which they were graciously allowed to keep, but of course not the zats. The room had three beds waiting for them which made sense since staying together was a good idea. Two guards stood outside the door, however.

O'Neill walked over to one of the beds and laid down with a groan, "I don't think my body can take an adventurous adventure like this. You kids make it look so easy. Why did they send us again?"

Daniel responded with a chuckle, "Because if they hadn't whoever it was would definitely still be locked up, and eventually transferred to a psych ward. Honestly, what we're saying would sound absolutely insane if it weren't for the fact that there's two of us, and we look at least ten years older. Besides, Jack, Teal'c is far older than you are."

Teal'c nodded with a smirk, "Indeed."

Jack groaned, scowling at both of them, "Don't remind me. Help me out here, Carter."

She giggled, coming over to the bed he was lying on and sat on the edge, "Come on, Sir. You're not that old. In fact I remember that you often like to remind me of that." She flashed him a smile which he returned.

Daniel groaned, "If you two are going to flirt all night then me and Teal'c are going to go ask for another room."

Sam laughed, trying to hide the blush that rose in her cheeks. Jack continued to smile at her, feeling at least accomplished in making her relax a little, "Nah, we'll be good. We need to sleep anyways. All of us, that includes you, Teal'c."

Teal'c looked around at the three beds then rose an eyebrow at him, "O'Neill, is there not a bed missing?"

As if just realizing that there was three instead of four beds, he sat up, wondering why that would be. It dawned on Daniel first, "They don't know that you sleep now." Gesturing to Teal'c. "They would have no reason to assume otherwise. We can go ask them for an extra bed…"

Jack waved him off, "No, don't worry about it. We'll be fine on the same bed, even if they are a bit small." He ignored the look Carter gave the bed. "Come on, Carter. We've slept in worse conditions."

"We have… I'm more worried about someone catching us. As much as we've told them a lot of information, I want to avoid telling them what isn't necessary. Finding two officers cuddled up together in bed… well." She blushed again, which made him chuckle.

"I know, and I doubt they will take it well at this point in time. Granted, in a couple of months they're forced to admit their feelings, but that wasn't exactly a pleasant experience either." She grimaced at the memory. "Look, we'll try our best not to tell them too much, but if it comes out then it comes out. I know this is a bad time for them and the team. Honestly the timing makes this harder. Who knows, maybe that's why Ol' Sop chose this time. You didn't trust me anymore, at least not as much as you used to." His words were confirmed when she flinched, and Daniel and Teal'c looked away. "I'm not under the illusion that this will be easy, but it's good to know what to expect from them."

Sam nodded, dropping her vest to the side and nudging him to move off so they could get under the covers. Daniel and Teal'c did the same, all relaxing into the rather uncomfortable beds. Sam pulled the elastic bands out of her hair, placing them on the table before lying down with her head tucked against Jack's chest. He wrapped an arm around her with one hand on her back and one in her hair. Somehow they managed to both fit on the bed comfortably.

He asked softly and quietly, "Are you okay?"

She nodded, closing her eyes when he started to brush his hand carefully through her hair, "Yeah, just tired, I guess."

"Go to sleep then. Don't worry about all of this right now. We have time, and we can figure it out in the morning."

She cracked a smile, "Technically, it's morning right now, sir."

"Mm, I think I've said something against being cheeky, Colonel." She heard a smile in his voice.

She didn't get a chance to respond since Daniel did it for her, "I'm serious about finding another room if you two keep flirting. Go to sleep."

They both chuckled, but did as they were told and quickly fell to sleep.


	5. What Now?

The younger team sat in Carter's lab, all feeling uneasy. They honestly didn't know what to make of the people who had suddenly shown up today. From what they heard they were now resting, but that didn't stop the feeling of uneasiness. Somehow this was different than the situation of an alternate reality that had only occurred a couple of months beforehand.

Colonel O'Neill fiddled with some sort of doohickey, not even sure what it was. Carter didn't even bother telling him to cut it out. They were all lost in thought until Daniel, always the peacekeeper and negotiator, broached the subject, "So do we believe them?"

Colonel O'Neill frowned, "I don't know. They seem to know a lot if they're lying. General Hammond doesn't believe them, or at least he doesn't trust them. If they are from the future we can guarantee they won't hurt us, but that doesn't mean they won't hurt someone else." He sighed, looking down at what he was fiddling with, finding it to some chip with wires, probably expensive. He decided to set it down.

Carter replied after a moment of silence, "And we can't confirm for sure if they are from the future except that they seem to know things they shouldn't. It could be that they're from an alternate reality that's remarkably similar to ours."

Daniel shook his head, "That doesn't explain why they look older though. As far as we know the mirror can't do that, which means they have to be telling some sort of truth. What we need to find out is how they got here."

Carter shrugged, "It's weird. As far as we can tell they just showed up on Level 14."

Colonel O'Neill looked up at that, "Really? Well why don't we go look around Level 14 then, and see what we can find?"

"Well, sir, they already have, and so far they haven't found anything. We can have a look, but I'm not sure what more we can do." She paused in thought. "We might need some more help on this one. To make sure they don't get anyone hurt, and if they are right, to help them find this Goa'uld they're after."

O'Neill nodded slowly, looking wary, "And who do you propose we could ask to help with this?"

"The Tok'ra or at least just one Tok'ra. They don't sound like they trust many people, but I'm sure they trust Dad."

Surprisingly Colonel O'Neill nodded slowly and thoughtfully, "That's actually a good idea. Daniel, go and have Jacob contacted. The rest of us are going to search level 14. Perhaps by the time they wake up, we'll have this all sorted."

Daniel quickly agreed and ran off to hopefully contact Jacob and bring him here to help them, while they went to find where these people came from. After a couple of hours, all they'd found was a door that was not opening, but as far as they could tell, there was nothing in the room. Colonel O'Neill took one look at the door then turned to a SF nearby, "Get me a torch, will you?"

Major Carter's eyes widened while Teal'c rose his eyebrow, "You're going to cut your way in sir? Is that advised?"

"Well, Carter, unless you have a way to override whatever it is that has us locked out of this room, yes, I'm going to cut my way in."

"I could try to override it, but I'm honestly not sure what sealed it."

"Unless you can tell me that you can fix it in a reasonable amount of time, we need to find out what's in this room so we can figure out who these people are." He gave her a pointed look, and grabbed the equipment the SF handed to him. She nodded when he gave her a questioning look. There was nothing she could do in a short amount of time, and they needed information before the other team woke up.

When they finally made a hole big enough for them to enter the room, they surprisingly found an empty room. Colonel O'Neill entered first and looked around, confused. The others followed, stopping and staring at the empty room. They slowly walked forward then Teal'c ran smack into something that sounded metal in the middle of the room. He rubbed his forehead and glared at whatever was standing in his way.

Colonel O'Neill walked to Teal'c and held his hand out, feeling a metal surface that wasn't there. That was… odd. "What the hell did they come in?"

"We cannot tell you that, O'Neill." All four spun around at the voice, seeing the older Teal'c with hair standing behind them. Looking behind him, they found him to be alone other than an SF who was following him around. He smiled which was rather off-putting. "The others need more time to sleep, but I thought I would check to see what you had discovered. General O'Neill knew you would be curious enough to find it."

They turned from Teal'c to the ship then back again. Major Carter asked cautiously, "What is it?"

Teal'c pulled out a device from his pocket which made Colonel O'Neill's hand twitch towards where his own gun would usually be, but the next moment the metal object became visible again before their very eyes. "It is the ship that allowed us to travel back in time. Colonel Carter has given explicit instructions that you not be allowed to get your hands on the ship or the objects inside. It is too soon for you to have them."

Colonel O'Neill frowned, "Come on, T. If we could have technology even like this ship or whatever is inside, we could stop a lot of casualties. I'm sure there are people who you would rather not die, and this could save them." He gestured emphatically to the ship. He was starting to get agitated with the way this older team wanted to stonewall them at every turn, as well as treating them like they were stupid.

Teal'c frowned, "As much as I wish I could save lives, we cannot change time. That is why we are here. I'm sure Major Carter understands the consequences." He gave her a pointed look.

She grimaced, "He's right, sir. They can't change time without knowing that it could get someone else killed or more people killed, even with extra technology. There's a reason the Nox and the Asgard don't trust us with their technology."

He scowled at the reminder, but relented. They'd really just gone over this not too long ago. They were right of course, but he didn't like it. "Fine, you're right, but you can't keep us from learning things, especially when we have no reason to trust you."

"That is true, O'Neill, but I do hope you will learn to trust us since your life may depend on it." Teal'c stared at the younger group grimly, wishing more than anything that this was easy. None of them knew what to do. They'd come here with little information and already they were running out of options.

Colonel O'Neill sighed then gestured out, "Why don't we go back to Carter's lab, wait for Jacob to show up and the others to wake up."

Teal'c rose his eyebrow again, "You have called Jacob Carter to come here?"

Daniel nodded, stepping up, "Yeah, we figured he could help us determine if you were trying anything funky, and perhaps help us find your stray Goa'uld."

Teal'c nodded, hitting a button on the device to activate the cloak, leaving them once again in an empty room. He turned to leave, forcing them to quickly follow after him. Colonel O'Neill gestured for the SF to guard the room. They could watch Teal'c without being followed around by someone else.

Once they reached Carter's lab, Teal'c offered to go check on his teammates, and leave them to discuss their options. At least he knew he still wasn't trusted, but he was getting there. He had shown them the ship even if he didn't let them enter it. Perhaps Jacob could determine if they were trustworthy, and the results from Fraiser's analyses.

They weren't there for long, sitting in silence before an off-world activation alarm went off, bringing them to all head to the gate room. They hoped that was Jacob.

When they got to the gateroom, Jacob walked down the ramp warily, even as SG-1 came in to greet him. He gave his daughter a quick hug then looked at all of them, "So, what was so important? Everything okay?"

Each of them shifted uneasily. Sam was even avoiding his gaze, but she was the one to respond, "It'd be best if we showed you then explained." She gestured to the corridor then led him out. She hoped they were at least awake enough for this. They walked purposefully to the room that their future selves were resting in. Sam turned to her father nervously, "This might seem strange, but… you'll have to let us explain."

He narrowed his eyes warily, "Alright, so show me."

She nodded to the SF who knocked on the door, hearing an acknowledgment, they entered the room. They almost expected to see some of them still asleep, but they were all awake. Teal'c leaned against the wall while General O'Neill, Colonel Carter, and Daniel sat on their beds. Jacob walked in and froze at the sight, looking between each of them then back to the team that had led him here. He swore in Goa'uld, but otherwise stood in shock.

He wasn't the only one who froze when he came in though. At the noise after just getting up, Colonel Carter looked up. All blood drained from her face and her breath hitched. She'd told herself she was prepared to meet people who were long dead, but apparently ghosts of close friends and family were never easy to handle. She felt a hand gently on her back, glad that from their position only their Daniel and Teal'c could see the action. Any other thought than that seemed to have escaped her.

Finally it seemed Selmak got fed up with the shock and silence and took over for Jacob. He quickly demanded of Major Carter, "What is going on?"

She shifted, glancing at her future self, a bit surprised to see the shock written on her face. What kind of reaction was that to her own father? "Well, they showed up earlier today, claiming to be from the future. We were hoping you might be able to help us confirm what they might be saying, and mostly help with the reason they're here."

"Why are they here?"

General O'Neill answered, keeping his eyes trained on his far too pale wife, "A goa'uld decided to mess with time so we're here to stop him. Ever heard of Sopdu?"

Selmak scoffed, "Sopdu is of no importance. He sits around and collects things, mainly teeth. Why would you come after Sopdu? You risked time for a pathetically minor Goa'uld?"

General O'Neill clenched his jaw. He trusted Selmak far more than any other Tok'ra, but considering the Tok'ra put them in this situation in the first place, he was a little miffed. He gestured for the open door to be closed. Major Carter automatically closed it both out of habit of following his orders, and because this was a private conversation. That left the two teams and Selmak alone in the room.

General O'Neill turned to Selmak finally, "Well as it turns out, the Tok'ra were unable to kill this rather minor Goa'uld, and he got his hands on time travelling capabilities. So they came crying to us, asking us to go back in time to save ourselves because they were incapable of killing one measly little Goa'uld."

Selmak seemed to back down, despite O'Neill's angry tone. It seemed they at least understood, "You say Sopdu has travelled back in time to kill you? I suppose that does present a problem. I believe you, but I can stay to ensure you are telling the truth. After that I can return and discuss with the council-"

The older Daniel quickly interrupted, "No, you can't tell anyone else about us or any specifics of this mission. We need information, but we don't trust everyone. We're trusting you, but not the other Tok'ra. Please understand."

Selmak paused then nodded, "We understand. Allow me to send a message to the Tok'ra to ask that Sopdu's movements be tracked. It might not help, but it's worth a try. I will be back." They turned and left the room with the younger team quickly following behind them.

Once they were alone in the room, at least for now, Jack turned to Sam who was taking in shaky breaths. He ran a hand up and down her back while looking worried, "I know this is hard, but we really could use his help."

She nodded, letting out a breath slowly, "I know, and I know this shouldn't be so hard. He died nearly six years ago, and I came to terms with that, but…" She let breathed shakily, and he sighed, bringing her closer to him. She felt a wet trail sting her cheek which she quickly wiped away. "I'm sorry, sir."

"Hey now, don't be sorry. You have every right to be upset right now, Sam. There's no soldier training for your best friend and father suddenly being alive and in front of you."

Daniel nodded even though she couldn't see him from where she was cradled in Jack's arms, "We're all having a hard time Sam. It's okay to be upset. This is new, and even different than having alternate Janet show up. It never gets easier."

"I know." She whispered, turning more into Jack's arms. "I'll be okay. I just need a minute."

Jack smiled, rocking her ever so slightly, "Of course. I think we could all use a minute here."

Sam hadn't even realized that the tears weren't entirely her own. Some dropped onto the top of her head by the man holding her closely. While he hadn't lost his father, he had held Jacob in high regard, and as much as he'd always bothered Dr. Fraiser, it had still hurt. They'd mourned, but it seemed every feeling was dragged back by all of this.

When Sam finally extracted herself from Jack's arms, she saw Daniel and Teal'c's eyes shimmering as well. Seems they all needed a moment. She wiped her cheeks then turned to smile at each of them, "I suppose I should be happy for the chance to spend some more time with them, even it won't be all that long."

Jack chuckled, nudging her playfully, "That's the spirit. Now let's get cleaned up a bit here before Jacob comes back. Don't need them thinking that a Lieutenant General is getting all emotional now. Have a reputation to uphold."

They all laughed. Daniel was, of course, the one to point out the flaw, "Your reputation here is whatever they think of Colonel O'Neill, not General O'Neill, and I'm sure Sopdu won't hear from anyone about this."

"You never know. There could be a spy out there ready to tell him that the mighty General has a soft side."

Sam giggled, warranting a grin from Jack. Teal'c replied, amusement clear in his voice, "That is highly unlikely, O'Neill."

"Ah, well, better safe than sorry." He smiled, glad to see everyone smiling, despite the obvious shine of tears in their eyes and on their cheeks. No one said this mission would be easy.

Sam quickly wiped her tears away, taking a couple deep breaths then nodded, "They are right, all the same. We really could use Dad and Selmak's help. We can trust them too."

"Yeah, just about the only ones I do trust. Something's been bothering me about the Tok'ra since we got here." O'Neill furrowed his brow, watching the door now.

Daniel nodded, "You mean how they knew when Sopdu was coming to? You think they would risk the timeline just for a practical joke?"

O'Neill shook his head and replied quietly, "No, I don't think it's a practical joke, but something's up. How could they have known so much, and so quickly?"

Daniel added with realization, "Well, actually, they knew exactly where he went, for that matter. It could be that their operative got close, but with how few Goa'uld are out there, it seems unlikely. The few left haven't been trusting anyone which is why it has been hard to take the last couple down." He paused in thought, "So, why don't we check out the place they supplied?"

"For one, I don't trust the Tok'ra that much, and two, if you haven't noticed, we don't exactly have a lot of room to move here. They don't trust us, and until they do, we can't go anywhere. I suggest we stick to the information Selmak and Jacob give us." He gestured vaguely out to the corridor where the others were.

Carter frowned in contemplation, "Well Sir, Daniel could be right, Sopdu could have told a Tok'ra what he was doing if he was leaving things in the hands of what he considered another minor Goa'uld. He might not have had a choice."

O'Neill nodded thoughtfully, "Maybe, but that doesn't seem very Goa'uld like to me. I know they love to tell people plans, but not quite like that. I just feel like we're missing information. I'm hoping Jacob can fill in some information even if they're from the past. They might know more."

Sam frowned, looking down at her hands again. "Then we need to decide how much we're willing to tell my dad."

"Just what he needs to know to trust us, and whatever it takes to figure this out." O'Neill replied with a sigh. He knew to be careful, but they were running into walls around every corner.

After some time of the group sitting in silence, there was a knock at the door. In entered the younger SG-1 and Jacob, now himself rather than Selmak it seemed. He walked to the middle of the room then addressed them sternly, "Alright, talk. We're here to listen and determine if we should trust you."

General O'Neill glanced to the other team. They could trust them, but he wasn't sure it would be good to have this conversation with them listening in. They'd trust Jacob's assessment, whatever it was. "Could we have this conversation in private? You can wait outside." He nodded to their past selves then to the door.

Colonel O'Neill narrowed his eyes, "Why? So you can threaten Jacob? That isn't happening. We're staying."

General O'Neill shook his head, "No, because whatever we might say might be something you shouldn't know. As much as we can make you forget, it's easier if there's less to forget, or so I'm told." He looked to Colonel Carter who nodded. "We need Jacob to trust us, and that means we might have to say things that we'd rather you didn't hear. Look. I know you have no reason to trust us, but we can't do anything in here. You'll be right outside. Please."

Major Carter looked to the floor then nodded, "Sir, let's go outside. You'll be fine, right Dad?"

Jacob nodded, "Yeah, I can take them." General O'Neill honestly wasn't sure if that was a joke so he rose his eyebrow at him. Jacob smiled, shooing SG-1 out of the room.

They reluctantly left, obviously staying just outside the room. Jacob turned back to them with a frown, "Alright, start talking."


	6. What?

The three men were actually surprised when Sam started, "You know we're from the future and that we're after a minor Goa'uld, but you don't know why a minor Goa'uld would have so much power. Do you want to start with why or do you want to ensure we can be trusted?"

Jacob frowned, looking at each of them in turn, but focusing on his daughter, "Selmak trusts you. I'm not entirely sure why, but they do. You're all different, and yet inherently the same as you are now. I suppose people change over the years, especially with the jobs you have. What they don't understand, and perhaps is making them wary of your story, is how a minor Goa'uld could gain so much power to be able to make a move like this. Normally there is little for a minor Goa'uld to take after the System Lords have taken their share."

Colonel Carter looks thoughtful then answers, "Perhaps the fact that the Goa'uld System Lords are all dead would be why a minor Goa'uld was capable of this. There are few Goa'uld left in the future, actually."

They aren't overly surprised when Selmak is the one to press this point, "A future without the Goa'uld ruling the galaxy. One can only imagine what a universe that would be like. It sounds like a dream."

General O'Neill grimaced, "Not so much. We only wish it was a dream. Unfortunately with the Goa'uld gone other bad guys like to take their place. Some worse, some not as bad, but all around bad guys."

Selmak noded understandingly, "We always feared that might be the case, but the Goa'uld are such an oppressive presence in our galaxy. What could be worse than that?"

All four shifted uncomfortably. Daniel responded quietly, "A force that is as close to a real God as you can get, I suppose. They're also gone, but it wasn't pretty. Now it's… well the new threat is hard to explain. There's also a group of humans that like the cause more trouble than we would like."

General O'Neill nodded, "Both the new and old threats came from another galaxy where they acted pretty well like the Goa'uld did in our galaxy. Honestly, if the galaxy was at peace I would have retired long before I was promoted to Lieutenant General." He sighed. "I'm sure you both understand being tired."

Selmak frowned in contemplation, examining General O'Neill. From the man they knew to the one sitting before them, they could certainly see the weariness of their body. In fact all four people in front of them looked exhausted. Selmak had lived for thousands of years, and yet these people looked as tired as he felt, like they'd been through one too many wars. "I believe you, and yes, I understand. While I cannot currently help you with the war of the future, I can help you find a Goa'uld."

Sam closed her eyes, and muttered, "Thank you."

General O'Neill glanced at her then sighed, "We appreciate it, Selmak. That seemed a bit too easy though. We haven't told you much."

Selmak smiled, "No, you haven't, and I'm not done with you yet, but you are gaining my trust. Now tell me, if you are so untrustworthy of the Tok'ra in your time, but you trust me, why did you not ask me? Surely I could have given you an answer or helped more with this Goa'uld."

And there was the fact that none of them wanted to tell them. General O'Neill could feel how tense Colonel Carter was beside him. He decided to answer before their body language could give the answer away, "Because you and Jake aren't around in the future, Sel. You died nearly six years ago in our perspective. If you were, trust me, we would have asked. Not sure it would have done any good though. The Tok'ra didn't really trust you near the end there."

Selmak's face twisted a bit, but he reasserted a calm expression quickly, turning to look at Colonel Carter. He sighed and Jacob asked if he could talk to her. She looked so tense, but still strong. She was different than the Sam sitting out in the corridor, but it was definitely her. That's why they wanted to trust these people. Jacob spoke softly, "Sam, you okay?"

Her head shot up, "Yeah, I'm fine. Why do you ask?" Her response came a little too quickly and even she winced at that, but tried to keep her face clear.

Jacob rose an eyebrow at her, coming to sit on the other side of her, not missing that she seemed to tense up a bit more, but she turned to him all the same, "I hate to self-aggrandise, here, but it must have been hard. Whatever happened six years ago must have been tough."

She shook her head, "I survived, and I mourned. I moved past that a long time ago. I promise, I'm fine." The determined look she gives tells him she's hiding something, but he's not going to get to it by pushing her. "I just wasn't expecting to see you, but I'm fine. I'm happy."

Jacob studies her for a moment, ignoring the voice in his head telling him to leave it alone. Sam continues before he can say anything, "We don't have a lot of time, Dad. I know you need to trust us, but we also need to make sure that time stays intact. What more do you need to trust us?"

Selmak finally started to break through to him, "She's definitely your daughter, if perhaps a bit older."

Jacob sighed. Selmak was right, but that didn't mean he liked it, "You're right, but we have some time before the Tok'ra report back, so before I go back out there to wait, at least tell me this. Are you happy?"

Sam was a little taken aback by the question. She looked at him then smiled, "Yes. I am happy." Behind her Jack ducked his head with his own smile, one Jacob wasn't sure he understood.

And they believed her, despite the circumstances they were currently in, she seemed genuinely happy. Jacob smiled, looking to the rest of the team who were also smiling. Somehow, all of them seemed happier. Even if the war wasn't over, things were better for them. "Good, I'm glad." He stood and headed to the door.

Jacob paused then Selmak enquired, "One last thing." They turned to Teal'c with a frown, "How is it that I don't detect a symbiote from you, Jaffa?"

Teal'c gave a small smile, "The future might not be perfect, but the Jaffa have found a way to free themselves of the Goa'uld."

Selmak smiled happily at this, "I am glad for it." They continued," I'll explain that you're probably who you say you are, and then perhaps we can figure out what to do while we wait. I'm sure there's something we can do instead of waiting around."

General O'Neill frowned then pushed himself up from the bed, "Oi, whoever said you were in charge?"

Jacob rose an eyebrow at him, "Last I checked, even retired I do have seniority, Jack."

O'Neill smirked, "Check again, Dad. Seems you're lacking a bit of information, there. Come on, let's go get those four youngsters then I think we have something to show you all properly." He glanced back to Colonel Carter who nodded.

When the door opened, the younger SG-1 was right there, ready to jump in if needed. Jacob spoke quietly for a moment, which seemed to calm them some, but they were still wary. The older group couldn't blame them for being cautious. General O'Neill clapped his hands and smiled, "Right, so I believe Jacob wanted to do some preparation, why don't we take you down to the ship and show you all of our handy gadgets. Hopefully when that's done, the Tok'ra will have some information. If not, we might need to go on a little trip."

Colonel O'Neill frowned while the other three looked to him for confirmation, "I thought the point was to keep us from dying. How does a trip keep us from getting killed?"

General O'Neill nodded from side to side, "Well, we'll just have to be careful. The other point of all of this is to make sure time doesn't change at all." He gave his younger self a look, which annoyed him, but he relented and started to walk towards the elevators, leaving the others to follow.

When they arrived at the empty room on level 14 and opened the ship, Colonel Carter started to bring out equipment that even Selmak had never seen or heard of. He stepped forward, looking over all of it, "I've never seen this. Where did you get it?"

Colonel Carter looked up from where she was setting a rectangular device on the ground in front of them, "That would be because this device is older than even you, Selmak. The rest of this is either new or you simply haven't seen it before." She held up the device that would cause them to forget. "And that's because I made it for the purpose of preserving the timeline."

Major Carter was looking through each device, wondering how they got each of them. Part of her hoped they'd get to use them all, but she also knew that would likely mean things had gone horribly wrong. "You are going to tell us what each of these does, yes?"

Colonel Carter nodded slowly, "Only so you know what's at our disposal, should a situation warrant that we use one of these devices. You've of course already seen the weapon capable of taking down Super Soldiers, but we're keeping those with our weapons. So long as you stay with one of us, you'll be fine. These," She gestured to a group of Ancient technology she'd brought, "are significantly more complicated and Ancient."

Colonel O'Neill nodded and gestured in a bit of annoyance at the long lecture he was sure they were about to get, "You said that when they were older than Selmak. No offence to Selmak, but I'm pretty sure that makes it ancient."

The older team smiled as if sharing a private joke. Colonel Carter quickly explained, "By Ancient, I don't mean old. I mean these devices were made by the people who made the Stargate. As you know, you've run into the Ancient repository." She nodded to Colonel O'Neill. "This is more of what we've found over the years. Most of these are a "just in case everything goes wrong" kind of deal." She grimaced, pausing when Colonel O'Neill held up a questioning finger.

"You don't have a small repository there that you're going to make me deal with again, do you? Cause it was unpleasant the first time. I don't really want to do that again."

General O'Neill chuckled darkly, "Trust me, it's unpleasant the second time too, but if I'm right, and for once I think I am, then you need the only repository we know of four years from now. That means that isn't an option, right?" He looked to Colonel Carter with a smile that looked far too much like he was trying to impress her.

She returned his smile sweetly, "General O'Neill is right. That is not something we have access to, but hopefully knowledge of the future and this equipment will give us enough of an advantage." She carefully held up a rectangular, black box with keys on it, allowing them to pick it up, "This is Merlin's device."

Colonel O'Neill looked up from tapping a couple of the keys, "Merlin? As in…?"

"As in Merlin, the Ancient who made a legend of himself on Earth." The elder Daniel replied. "He's fairly helpful, but this device proved to be a great deal of help. Granted, we've never used it against a Goa'uld, but it's hard to say what Sopdu will have."

Colonel Carter continued, "The device takes you out of phase where you can't be seen or touched. It's proved useful in saving people, and could help in a sticky situation, or if you want to do something without anyone knowing you're there."

Colonel O'Neill looked it over, refraining from asking how exactly it could do what it did. He had a feeling he didn't want to know. He did ask, "Doing something?"

Colonel Carter nodded slowly, glancing to Daniel since he knew a little bit better than she did, "Experiments, tests, that sort of thing." Daniel nodded with a bit of a shrug. She continued, "The point is, if we need to get off the radar then this is the way to do it. I can show Major Carter," She gestured to herself." Around the device, but you have to remember that you will forget all of this after we're done." Her younger self still looked far too excited at being taught how to use it.

General O'Neill tried not to smile while Colonel O'Neill just looked bemused and replied, "Okay, later you two can… geek out over this. Tell me what else you've brought."

She smiled, "Well, this one isn't Ancient. This is a Sodan cloak. I must advise that it's dangerous, but it does the same thing as Merlin's device on a small scale."

She paused when she was interrupted by Teal'c, "The Sodan? I have heard legend of them. I didn't believe they were real."

Jacob nodded and pointed at him in agreement, "Yeah, I've heard of them, but even Selmak has never met the Sodan. We thought they were a myth."

She smiled, "They are real, and we're fairly good friends, or at least some of us are. It's a tenuous relationship at best, but they've been rather helpful in the past, and this can help. We only have four though, so not everyone can have one, and again, they are rather dangerous."

She continued, "Why don't we move on? We can all look at each of these later. This is a life-signs detector that I stole from Atlantis." General O'Neill looked up with a raised eyebrow. Colonel Carter corrected herself, "Well, borrowed. They let me take it. That's not the point. We have it, and it could be useful. We also have a naquadah generator because we're still low on ZPMs and they wouldn't let me that that…" She paused and looked up to see the younger team staring at her in amazement, "What?"

The younger Daniel shifted then looked to his team, "Did she say Atlantis?"

Colonel O'Neill nodded, "Yes, I think she did. I believe she said Atlantis." He turned to her, "You mean the lost city of Atlantis?"

Colonel Carter smiled, glancing at her Daniel who was grinned proudly, "Yes, as in the lost city of Atlantis. Don't get too excited, it takes you awhile to find it, and Daniel never actually gets to go, but I do." She grinned while her Daniel glared at her.

Daniel muttered, "I've been, just didn't get to stay."

Colonel Carter laughed then put the device down with the rest. The younger group just seemed amazed. "I also have some Asgard technology. I retrofitted beaming technology into the jumper just in case, and I can create things if need be, like more tretonin for Teal'c." She gestured to Teal'c ignoring the baffled and confused looks of the younger group. She turned to the General who also looked fairly baffled at the pile of equipment.

Before their younger selves could start asking every question possibly, he asked with a bit of reprimand, "Carter, we had four days to get ready. How did you do all this and finish that device?" He looked down at her with narrowed eyes, "How much sleep did you get?"

She shifted and ducked her head, "I think you know the answer to that sir."

He sighed and shook his head, "When this is all over, you're sleeping until I think you've caught up on sleep."

She shrugged, "If you can make sure the world doesn't end for that time that sounds fine by me." She smiled when she saw their Daniel and Teal'c narrow their eyes a bit. Right, they weren't even flirting, just talking a bit casually. It wasn't like their younger selves were paying enough attention with their surprise at the fact that they had in fact gone to Atlantis.

The younger Daniel finally broke their silence, sounding amazed, "You're saying that after all these years you have all this ancient technology, and even Asgard technology, and you're even willing to tell us how these work. Can you tell us how you got the rest of this other than stealing something from the city of Atlantis?"

General O'Neill just laughed while the rest of them smiled. Colonel Carter gestured to the rest of the equipment, "You do remember that you have to forget about all of this when we're done, right? And the more information you know, the harder this might be. We can't change the timeline."

Major Carter shrugged, "We know, but it would help you if we knew more about all of this, including where it came from. We are here to help the timeline, correct? Otherwise you wouldn't have risked the timeline at all by coming to us."

Colonel Carter grimaced then nodded, "Alright, you already know where the life-sign detector came from. The Asgard technology came from the Asgard, believe it or not. Apparently we proved ourselves over time. Merlin's device actually found here on Earth, not going to tell you where though. That's for a later date." She shrugged. "Honestly, where they came from isn't important, what is, would be showing you what they do. Can we set up a private lab somewhere to show you, and ensure that only you see what we're doing? As much as I know General Hammond will hate this, we'll have to turn off the camera."

Colonel O'Neill frowned at this now, "Can we at least have guards outside? I'm pretty sure we'll have to have some sort of precaution for General Hammond to allow this."

She nodded, "Of course, so long as you are the only ones there."

Selmak who had been hanging back, finally spoke up, "The Tau'ri have acquired quite a bit, and certainly grown over the years. I must say that even I'm impressed. We will do our best to convince General Hammond to give you whatever you need. We see no reason not to trust you."

Sam smiled gratefully, "Thank you Selmak. You are of course welcome to the demonstrations, but you will have to forget that this happened. As far as I know it should work on you."

Selmak tilted their head to the side, "And how does it work?"

"Well, I actually made it from Tok'ra technology, using the memory recall devices. As far as I know they work just as well on the Tok'ra as they do on us." The younger four flinched at the mention of the memory technology and she smiled sympathetically. "Don't worry, I've made it far less uncomfortable than that. At least I hope. Besides this is to make you forget, not remember."

Selmak nodded, "Very impressive. Allow me to talk to General Hammond, and I will return shortly." They bowed their head and then Jacob continued, "Colonel O'Neill, would you mind accompanying me? I'm sure it would help to have you along."

The Colonel frowned but relented and followed Jacob down the corridor to talk to General Hammond. Once they were gone, General O'Neill clapped his hands and looked to Carter. "Promise me that testing all of this out won't be dangerous because something always seems to go wrong."

She gave him an insulted look then sighed, "I will be as safe as possible. Considering some of this equipment I've been using for years, and have literally shed blood over, I think I can handle it."

The elder Teal'c nodded in agreement, "Colonel Carter is indeed capable, O'Neill. She has shown her abilities on many occasions."

"I wasn't doubting her abilities, just the safety of this operation. We are leaving the Sodan Cloak for emergencies, yes?"

"Yes, sir. Merlin's device should show them enough for them to understand a Sodan cloak. Even if someone does use the cloak, it'll be one of us, not them." She looked to the pile of devices then started to sort them, unsure what to do while they waited.

The silence quickly got awkward, but there wasn't much they could say. Major Carter and Daniel seemed interested in each device, trying to study it with their eyes, but you couldn't tell much from a distance. Daniel did seem to notice something on Arthur's device, "What are those letterings?"

The elder Daniel answered, "While that took a while to figure out, those are Ancient. The keys mean something although Sam here has found a way to interface the device so we don't have to work just with the keys. You know, like she has with just about everything."

Colonel Carter made a face, "Thanks Daniel." Daniel smiled sweetly at her, ignoring the scowl he received in return.


	7. New Technology

Colonel O'Neill and Jacob were having a bit harder of a time convincing General Hammond that their idea was a good idea. "What do you mean you want to try a bunch of equipment on the base? And without the cameras on? Not happening"

"Sir, they think it would be a good idea if we knew how to use the equipment, and what we have at our disposal, but they can't let anyone else know about it. Carter is excited to learn, even full well knowing that she will forget when all of this is done. They know what they're doing, and I doubt Carter would bring something if she didn't think she could handle it, even a future Carter. It's still Carter."

Jacob nodded, "Look, George. I trust them; Selmak trusts them. They don't seem to be lying, and they know a lot if they were lying or just happen to be from another reality. They know there are consequences if they mess this up so they aren't going to hurt anyone, especially not themselves."

General Hammond growled in frustration, "Jacob… I can't just let them do whatever they want and expect this to end well."

"You're not letting them do whatever they want. We'll be there to watch them, and you can have guards stationed nearby. I think this needs to be done though." Jacob pleaded. "The life of a lot of people could rely on them."

General Hammond sighed, "Alright, but we're taking every precaution necessary. Get whatever you need, just don't let them do anything you wouldn't."

Colonel O'Neill smiled, "Ah, short list, sir?" He received a glare for that, but it didn't faze his mood. "Thank you, sir. I'll go inform them."

Colonel O'Neill and Jacob returned to the ship, quickly. Colonel O'Neill clapped his hands as he came around the back of the ship, "Alright, we have a room for you. Grab all the equipment and let's see what all of this does, shall we?"

It took most of the day to satisfy everyone on their knowledge of the equipment. Well that was except Major Carter who wanted to learn everything she could about the technology they had laid out before her. On a table in an isolation room. Colonel O'Neill finally cut her off, "Carter, look, we've been at this all day, and I'm sure they're as hungry as I am. Why don't we all go down to the commissary, get something to eat and then call this a day. We're still waiting for the Tok'ra to get back to us so why don't we take a break."

Her face fell, but Colonel Carter smiled softly, "I could certainly use a break. Something to eat sounds good. Honestly I'm sure Teal'c is starving by now." She smiled teasingly at him, which received her a raised eyebrow in return. She turned to her father, "You coming with us?"

Jacob shook his head, "I should go back, and see if I can get that information myself. I'll return soon enough, don't worry." He smiled at her. "Just stay out of trouble while I'm gone."

Major and Colonel Carter replied, "Yes, Dad." at the same time. They turned to each other with a smile while he just rolled his eyes at them then gave Major Carter a quick hug.

He turned to Colonel Carter cautiously. She smiled shyly which confused the younger team. General O'Neill nudged her from behind, and she gave him a hug, careful not to hug him too long. No need to make the others ask questions. He hugged her tightly and whispered, "Good luck." Then let go and waved to the others as he headed out.

Colonel Carter remember and quickly told him, "Make sure you remember to tell them as little information as possible. They don't need to know about us, just that Sopdu is causing trouble." Jacob nodded then left the room.

Colonel O'Neill looked between them all with an odd look then clapped his hands together, "Right, let's go eat. We're going to get plenty of stares as it is, so let's get this over with."

General O'Neill frowned, "Are you sure this is a good idea?" He looked to Colonel Carter, "Should we be letting everyone see us there?"

She shrugged, "Honestly, sir. With the way gossip tends to spread around this base, I'm sure everyone knows that we're here. If they ask we can tell them we're from an alternate universe. That way they don't have to forget that this happened. Just another weird day with SG-1."

Major Carter stepped in, "Sir, I would like to-"

Colonel O'Neill held up a hand, "Ack, no. We've done enough for today, and while I'm sure you'd love to stay here all day, I'm ordering you to eat and sleep. Anyways, even if you don't need to, they need to, and I get the feeling that they're not going to let you fiddle with this while they're not here anyways."

Colonel Carter winced and nodded, "Yeah, a fair number of these we discovered functions on accident. Like Merlin's device. We ended up out of phase with no way of getting back into phase, so I'd rather not leave you to do the same." She smiled sheepishly at them, but turned to her younger self. "Do as he says, you need to eat sometimes." Major Carter just frowned and narrowed her eyes.

"What makes you so willing to follow his orders? Wouldn't you rather…?" She gestured to the equipment.

Colonel Carter thought for a moment, not wanting to get in a fight with her younger self, "At the moment, no. I haven't really eaten much today, and a proper meal sounds nice. Besides, I've learned that you have to eat sometimes. We have time, just leave it alone for now."

Colonel O'Neill leaned over to General O'Neill, "How did you ever get her to actually eat and sleep when you told her to?"

General O'Neill just smirked, ignoring the look he got from his wife, "Ah, some fishing, and annoying her enough that she finally relents. Don't worry," He clapped himself on the shoulder, "you'll get there eventually."

Both Daniels looked like they were trying not to laugh, and even Teal'c looked amused. Colonel Carter tried to scowl at all of them, but ultimately failed, "You say that, but you still bring me lunch when I refuse to leave my lab. Anyways, I believe I've been bringing you lunch more recently."

General O'Neill frowned, "How about we go get food rather than discussing it." He gestured to the door impatiently.

"I believe it was you, O'Neill, that was holding us up." Said one of the Teal'cs, no one was really sure which. For being so far apart in age, they really hadn't changed much over the years.

They made their way down to the commissary while General O'Neill decided to take the role of forming jokes to lighten the mood, especially to the younger Major Carter who seemed to be getting more and more flustered as they walked. "We could try to mix it up and confuse everyone. Granted Carter won't let me cut off her hair, and Teal'c quite likes his hair, but I could pretend to be my younger self, and so could Daniel."

Major Carter knew he was talking to her, although she wasn't entirely sure why, "You could, sir. I don't see why you would though."

"Ah, come on, Carter. It'll be fun. What's the point of a dangerous mission if you don't have a little fun? It's been forever since I went on a mission, I feel like I need a little trouble and fun to get me back into things."

Colonel Carter cut in, "I think we've had guns pointed at us plenty, sir. Besides, the mission is only just beginning. You'll have time for that later. Don't try to confuse the poor people or I wouldn't put it past General Hammond to make you do the paperwork on that one. Anyways, wouldn't they think you looked a bit too old? I think Colonel O'Neill still has some brown hair"

General O'Neill glared at her, "I'm not that old. I'm still plenty capable."

She gave him an appeasing smile, "Yes, General. Of course, sir."

Daniel snickered at her tone, while the younger group looked a bit surprised at it. Colonel O'Neill had never been strict, but her insubordinate tone was just about crossing that line. Besides he was now a three star General which usually warranted even more respect. They all quickly concluded that General O'Neill couldn't be much harsher than Colonel O'Neill. Not much had changed, except somehow they were even closer now.

The conversation continued in the commissary despite all the stares. A couple glares from both O'Neills sent them back to their own discussion instead of staring at the duplicated team. Honestly, they'd been around for almost a day now and still everyone was surprised to see them. Luckily they had come to a mostly empty commissary, so they only had to give a couple glares before they were left alone.

Everyone had a huge helping, but it was nothing compared to what both Teal'cs carried on their trays. It was piled with more food than you thought you could fit on a tray. It also looked like they were competing to see who could eat the most food. The entire table was more interested in the silent battle going on in the middle than really their own discussion or food. They munched, glad for the entertainment.

General O'Neill whispered to Colonel Carter, "I bet you our Teal'c wins."

She smiled and whispered back, "I know he'll win so I'm not taking that bet. You might get a bet with your counterpart, there, but do you even have any money?"

He shrugged, "That's why I'm taking the bet against you."

She shook her head, and went back to eating while watching the two eat, rather quickly actually. She hoped they didn't choke.

Daniel leaned across the table, "You really think our Teal'c will win? I think the younger one will. He is after all, significantly younger. I'll raise you twenty."

General O'Neill grinned, "Oh, you're on. You'll owe me when we get back." Just like that there wasn't a worry that they might not get back or that things could go horribly wrong, they were just a team. (Well two teams, but who's counting.) Times like this got them through the years, and as they sat around the table, quietly taking bets and commenting on the competition, the younger team grew to trust the elder one a bit more.

As it turned out, the younger one did manage to win. Daniel smirked and said something about figuring he had a better metabolism with his symbiote, and being significantly younger. Even Jaffa start to get old eventually.

Once they were all full, they walked out to the elevators so they could return to the room. Major Carter looked ready to get back to the equipment, and General O'Neill reluctantly agreed to let Colonel Carter go. He knew she hadn't slept much over the last couple of days, but he also knew that if he tried to get her to sleep now, she'd simply refuse to. "You two can go check out the equipment, and so can both of you." He pointed to both Daniels. "I would like to talk with Colonel O'Neill, but we won't be far. Teal'c… do whatever you want, buddy." He shrugged.

Colonel O'Neill frowned again, but relented as the others continued on to the lab, "You seem to be quite used to being in charge, General."

General O'Neill grimaced, "Yeah, after a while it kind of wears on you. I would rather they let me retire, but apparently I'm too valuable or whatever." He grit his teeth, but quickly calmed, "You don't have to worry about it for a while." He shrugged it off.

They parted ways on the floor they had set up their lab on. Most of the group followed the rather excited Carters while Colonel and General O'Neill went to an empty room nearby. Colonel O'Neill turned and crossed his arms, giving him a raised eyebrow. Well he'd asked him here, so he might so well start, "I know you don't trust us much, but we're going to have to set up some sort of trust here if we're going to move forward from here. If not, someone could certainly be killed, if not critically injured."

Colonel O'Neill frowned more, "And you're saying that you should be in charge?"

General O'Neill shook his head, "If it were just you and me then I would say yes since I have more information than you do, and I've been in the field longer, but no. I don't think that's right. I think Colonel Carter should be."

Colonel O'Neill looked up in surprise, "What? Why?"

"While she might have a lower rank than me, she's been in the field more recently, and she's been in command in the field more recently. It makes more sense than me. She knows all the information we need, and can get us out a tight situation. I'll bring it up to her privately, but I wanted to run it by you first, even if I know you'll agree either way."

Colonel O'Neill now frowned in contemplation, "You're actually going to follow her orders?"

General O'Neill shrugged, "If it comes down to it, yes. She knows what she's doing. While we're on the base we can be somewhat relaxed, but I think if we want to keep the four of you alive as long as possible then putting her in charge would be best. I know General Hammond said you were in charge, so I'm asking you to at least think about this."

"I might have to run it by the rest of the team. I'm not entirely sure they'll agree. They might, but like you said, we don't entirely trust you."

General O'Neill shrugged, "Which, I understand, but if we do go out in the field, which there is a high chance we'll have to. We need someone making the calls. If you absolutely think that what she says is wrong then I'm sure you can over-rule her easily, but I'm asking you to at least think about it, and when it comes time we need to have a clear chain of command. To be completely honest, I'm not sure any of my team would listen to you. Carter seems like the best option for both teams."

He nodded, "You're right. Even my team seems to have taken a shine to her. Just part of her charm, I suppose."

General O'Neill grinned, "Oh, you have no idea." Colonel O'Neill gave him a confused look, but didn't have a chance to ask before the General continued, "Let's go see what the geeks are up to, keep them from getting anyone hurt, and from working all night."

Colonel O'Neill was about to retort to that but thought better of it, opening the door and allowing the General to leave and head to the isolation room where the lab was set up.

Both Carters were leaning over Merlin's device while Colonel Carter explained everything that was going on with her computer, and how she thought it worked. The elder Daniel was translating the writing while the younger sat in fascination. Both Teal'cs just looked like menacing body guards. Colonel O'Neill did see what his older-self meant, though, everyone seemed to be happy to listen to Colonel Carter and do as she asked. Certainly more so than they listened to him. He knew she'd make a brilliant Colonel.

Only Daniel and Teal'c looked up when they entered. Colonel Carter continued with her explanation of macaroni or something. When Colonel O'Neill came up behind them, he furrowed his brow and asked, "What does that have to do with Macaroni?"

She smiled, hiding the small jump she'd given at suddenly hearing him behind her, "Macros. I was just explaining the interface between the computer and the device."

Colonel O'Neill nodded slowly, "And this device has actually worked before, right? We're not taking an untested device into field that only works in theory?"

Major Carter shifted a bit uncomfortably at the question, but it looked like she wanted to know too. Colonel Carter stood tall, not backing down at all, "Many times, yes. We have seen powerful weapon fire pass right through us, leaving us completely intact. While I admit the first time I took it out for a field test it wasn't ready, it is now, so long as I have the right amount of power…" She glanced to the naquadah generator she had. "Unfortunately it takes a lot to shield a large area."

General O'Neill held back his comment, looking at her worriedly. There was limited supplies they could bring, and one generator didn't afford them much help. They didn't have any Ori staff weapons to help them now. "It works, but if we need more than people or a small area then we're going to need more power. Hopefully it doesn't come to that."

Colonel Carter nodded, "We've gotten past Goa'uld without this before. Hopefully we can now. Even if Sopdu does have Ori technology, he shouldn't have as much power which means we should have more of a chance even without having to use this."

The younger Daniel frowned in thought, "So then why did you bring all of this equipment if you hoped not to use it?" He knew better than to ask what the Ori were, even though he was rather curious about this new enemy.

Colonel Carter put her hand on the desk with a sigh, "Because we learned Sopdu liked to collect things, and we have no idea what he has collected. We have an idea about possible collections, but we don't know anything else. He could have brought anything from the future, and we might need this to match him in that."

Daniel nodded slowly, "No, it makes sense, I guess. Just a little surprised. Bringing this back risks timelines too, doesn't it?"

Colonel Carter nodded, "It does, but the memory device should work, so that isn't a problem. So long as we keep track of it, it'll be fine."

Major Carter cut in, "No, he's right, what if any of this is stolen?"

Colonel Carter sighed, "We were hoping to trust people, but if we can't then we either need someone constantly guarding this or we need to move it back to the jumper. We're being careful."

Colonel O'Neill gauged her carefully before interjecting, "We know, we just want to be sure. It is our future you're messing with after all."

Colonel Carter's eyes narrowed dangerously, starting to get frustrated with the questions and almost felt like she was being accused. General O'Neill would have stopped them, but he also knew she'd be angry if he did just now. She stepped up to Colonel O'Neill, standing tall, every inch the colonel she had become, "I know that. It's my past. I'm not going to do anything stupid. Despite what you may think, I know what I'm doing."

"I'm not saying you don't, I'm saying we need to be careful. Usually you're the one telling me this, so I'm not sure why I'm having to remind you."

General O'Neill stepped up quickly, figuring now would be a good time before she killed him in the past, "Colonel, he's right. I know you're trying your best, but we have to be careful, we can't let our guard down."

She turned to him, looking ready to fight him instead. Colonel O'Neill took a step back, but the General didn't. He rose an eyebrow at her, and after a moment she turned with a growl of frustration and turned back to the devices and people. "You're right, but don't think for a second that I'm being lax about any of this."

Daniel cleared his throat, "We don't, Sam. We're just worried about all of this. You don't have to do this on your own. We're all here to help make sure this goes through. I know you're tired, but I also know you can do this without getting into a fight with a young Jack. I know he can be a—" He stopped himself when he received a glare from two Jacks.

Colonel Carter sighed, glancing to her Daniel who was trying his best to calm everyone down. He was right, she did know how to handle the situation. In fact she'd been in much worse situations than this, but something about this whole thing was aggravating her, and to be honest it wasn't even Colonel O'Neill. He was just trying to do his job, after all. "I know, I'm sorry. You're right, and we need to keep an eye on all of this. If possible, we should keep someone here at all times, or at least move this back to the jumper once we're done. If you want an easy way to hide it though." She suddenly brightened up, making Colonel O'Neill take a bit of a step back, and give her a questioning gaze.

General O'Neill and the elder Daniel stepped forward, not sure what she was up to. They all knew that look though. Daniel asked softly, "Sam… What are you thinking?"

She turned her smile to him then went over to the computer currently hooked up to Merlin's device, "Well, they should get a proper demonstration rather than use just explaining it. Why don't we try it?" Daniel held up a finger then nodded. It made sense after all. She grinned and hit the key, causing a bright light to envelope the room. When the light disappeared, it looked as though nothing had changed.

Colonel O'Neill frowned, "Okay, I know better than to question your judgement Carter, but… I don't think anything happened."

General O'Neill smirked, "Oh, something happened, trust us."

Just then the door opened and in came an SF, having seen the bright light and coming to check on it. Inside he found nothing, looking around in confusion and worry then called over the other SF on duty.

Major Carter flickered her eyes from the device to the SF, "Are we really out of phase or are we simply invisible."

Colonel Carter turned to her, "Well if we were simply invisible they would be able to hear and touch us. You can try to touch one of them, but I will warn you that letting someone walk through you is rather disconcerting."

Colonel O'Neill walked up to the SFs and waved his hand in front of him then through him, "Well that's weird."

General O'Neill laughed, "She told you." He turned to her with a raised eyebrow, "I think it's time we put poor young men out of their misery before they go report us to General Hammond." Colonel Carter nodded and did as told, taking them back into phase. There was another bright light then they were standing in front of a surprised and still rather confused SFs.

They stood at attention, flickering their gaze to Colonel O'Neill who waved to them in a reassuring manor, "It's fine, just a little experiment. We're almost done here. Thank you." They nodded and quickly left. He turned to Colonel Carter, "Alright, so that was cool. What now?"

Colonel Carter opened her mouth to reply, but she was cut off by General O'Neill before she could get a word out, "Now we get some rest. We had a fun day with all the gadgets, but we still haven't gotten a full night's rest, and we're still waiting for Jacob. We can leave the equipment in here and have your team watch over it, so long as you promise not to touch anything." He turned to Teal'c. "Teal'c can I trust you to make sure nothing is touched.

The younger Teal'c bowed his head, "Of course O'Neill. I will ensure the equipment is safe here."

Colonel Carter frowned, "Are you sure that's a good idea, Sir?"

"I don't see a problem with it. I trust Teal'c, and you need some rest. We'll come back in the morning to show them some more until Jacob gets back. Chances are he won't be returning today." He gave her a pointed look which after a moment, she relented to with a nod.

They turned to the younger team which nodded. Teal'c stayed behind and Colonel O'Neill pushed his Daniel and Major Carter out. He knew if he left them, something bad would happen. He'd be back to check on Teal'c later. He watched the other team leave then turned to do his own things, and perhaps getting some rest himself.

General O'Neill managed to get them all to sleep, even if again it wasn't for as long as he would like, but it seemed Sam was in the mode for sleeping as little as possible. She looked a bit better when she woke, as did the rest of them. Daniel went to get them all coffee as they headed back to the isolation room. Colonel Carter immediately went to the devices, ignoring the other people in the room. The SFs would likely call the rest of SG-1 to come. She was glad to find nothing had been moved, and nothing was missing.

She turned to Teal'c with a grateful smile, "You kept vigil all night?"

He nodded to her, "No one attempted to touch or steal any of this, Colonel Carter."

She nodded gratefully then asked with a glance around, "Ah, where's the rest of the team?"

"I believe Colonel O'Neill got some rest then check on Major Carter and Daniel Jackson. They will return shortly I believe." Teal'c informed. They each nodded in response, and Carter started to sort through the things. She'd pack up some of this to take back to the ship. As she finished packing everything but Merlin's device and the Sodan cloak. She wanted to show them something, hopefully before her father returned.


	8. Let's Head Out

After about a half hour of waiting the rest of the younger team showed up, looking tired. Colonel O'Neill and Daniel looked a little miffed at having to be here so early while Major Carter looked rather excited to get to work, even if Colonel Carter wasn't going to show her much more than what she had shown her yesterday.

Major Carter walked up to the table in the middle of the room and looked at all the equipment then turned to her older self with that same excited smile, "So, what are we doing today?"

Colonel Carter smiled then held up the Sodan cloak, "I'm going to show you something with this, which means someone has to wear it. The radiation is minimal if worn for only a short period of time, so whoever wears it, should be fine."

Colonel O'Neill's head shot up, eyeing the device warily, "And that's supposed to instill confidence in us?"

She shrugged, "If you would like one of us can wear it. It should show the same demonstration."

At the looks the younger team gave, the older Daniel grabbed the cloak with a sigh, "I'll wear it. What do you need me to do?"

"Put it on and go outside the room. And please don't mess with anyone out there. We don't need them thinking the SGC is haunted." She shot him a look while Daniel simply smiled wickedly. He ignored the scowl he got from General O'Neill as he left the room, fitting the device on as he went.

She turned to Merlin's device which was the only thing left out. In the half hour they had been waiting, she'd been getting it ready, so with the push of a button, she took them all out of phase. She ignored the look from Major Carter that was rather disappointed at seeing nothing new, but that wasn't the point at the moment. She walked through the door, looking around and spotting Daniel, gesturing for him to come back inside.

He smiles at all of them and she turns to the others to explain, "While Daniel isn't exactly out of phase like we are as he can touch things and we can't, he can see us. I thought that would be important for you to know. The other thing is." She paused then gestured for them to follow. After a moment they did, following her out into the corridor. She walked up to the SF and waved in front of him. "You can leave the place that you were first taken out of phase and go around that way. If the field collapses while you are out here, however, then you will return to being visible, which can be dangerous, so while this is helpful, we have to be careful."

Colonel O'Neill walked up to the SF and waved in front of him like she had then tried to see if he could touch one of them, jumping back when his hand went straight through the guy. He paused then did it again, gaining a smile across his face, "This is so cool."

Colonel Carter smiled in amusement then herded them back into the room. Major Carter went right back to looking over the equipment again. Colonel Carter was looking over the energy read-out, ensuring that there was enough to keep them out of phase for a long time. Colonel O'Neill decided to go around finding out what he could and could not currently put his hand through.

It was then, mere moments after they'd returned to the room that the door opened again, and it wasn't Daniel Jacob had returned from the Tok'ra and he looked around with a puzzled look, "Uh, sergeant, you said they were in here?"

A young man came in behind him and looked around, now with a matching look of confusion, "They were sir, I swear. They haven't left in some time. The door has opened, but no one left."

"And yet, they are not here."

Colonel Carter quickly turned to the computer and shut off the device, revealing all but Daniel to him. Daniel quickly removed the cloak soon after the others became visible. The SF stared at them in awe while Jacob looked decidedly unimpressed. She thought it was rather cool, "Hi Dad. Good to have you back."

He looked at them for a minute then waved for the sergeant to be dismissed. He quickly left and closed the door behind him. As soon as he had, Jacob started talking in a loud voice, "What the hell was that?"

Colonel Carter answered cautiously, "That was a device that allows us to go out of phase. I was simply demonstrating it when you came in. Bad timing, I guess."

Jacob nodded, still looking between them all incredulously, "Yeah, I'll say."

Major Carter jumped in, obviously seeing how uncomfortable her older self was, as did they all, "Dad, we needed a demonstration, and she supplied it. It could really be useful. Why don't we just get right to whatever you need to tell us?"

Jacob frowned, but nodded, "Alright, I have some news, good and bad."

Colonel O'Neill answered the unspoken question, "Bad first."

Jacob nodded, "Alright, it seems we don't know where Sopdu is, or we're at least getting mixed answers since if he really did come from the future, there would be two of him like there are two of you." He gestured to them, quickly continuing, "The good news is that we at least have a planet that a strange collection has gathered. No one can get on the planet, but a scout says they saw some strange technology they've never seen before, much like this." He gestured to the room. "If anything, it's a place to start. We'll just have to be careful going in."

General O'Neill asked insistently, "Do you have a gate address?"

Jacob nodded, "I do. It's an old storing ground for Sopdu."

General O'Neill nodded, looking to his younger self, "Then we send a MALP, and go as soon as we can. If we need to, we can take the jumper."

Major Carter frowned, "Wouldn't it take far too long to reach the planet by a small ship like that?"

Colonel Carter responded with a shake of her head, "No, the ship was actually made to fit through the gate. We're just saying we're less likely to get killed if we take the ship, and it makes it slightly easier to bring all the equipment along. If you would help me move this back to the ship then we can suit up and go." She paused and winced, looking up to her commanding officer, "Sorry, Sir. If that's what you think we should do."

General O'Neill shared a look with Colonel O'Neill who nodded, "It's fine, Colonel. Teal'c and Daniel, all of you bring this back to the ship quickly. We're going to go convince General Hammond then I want you all suited up at the ship ASAP." There wasn't even a question as they all got to work on their task. A couple of "Yes, sirs" and "Indeeds" chorused around the room, but that was it. He turned and headed out of the room, heading to Hammond's office with his younger self following close behind.

It didn't take a lot of convincing beyond the fact that they had the information (Something he'd figured since Jacob had just returned) and the fate of the universe was in the balance. It did take some convincing to get him to not tell the president. Eventually he reluctantly agreed, but this would be hard to keep a secret forever.

Within half an hour they were all sitting outside the ship, suited up and ready to go. It would be a bit tight with nine of them, but they were only taking the ship if the MALP told them they needed it. They had all the equipment ready to be grabbed if they weren't taking the ship out of here. They closed and cloaked the ship, heading down to the control room to see what was on the other side of that gate.

When they entered, Sergeant Harriman was dialing up the gate. "Chevron 4 encoded." General Hammond turned to them with a nod.

They watched as the normal procedure went through, watching the large kawoosh of the wormhole stabilizing. Hammond sent the MALP through as they gathered closely around the monitor. As soon as the MALP was through and sending picture, they saw an open desolate land. The MALPs camera turned to look around, but quickly lost picture. General O'Neill swore and sighed, "We're taking the ship. Let's go."

General Hammond stopped them, "Are you sure you can get through safely? Whatever shot the MALP seemed to be powerful."

General O'Neill nodded slowly, "While I may not be the best flier, I can handle it. Besides, we'll be cloaked. We'll get your people back safely. I swear."

General Hammond nodded then, allowing them to run off after Colonel Carter gave quick instructions to Sergeant Harriman about retracting the roof.

They were almost to the room when Colonel O'Neill asked quickly and loudly, "Could I talk to my team? Just my team?"

They all turned to look at him, rather confused except for General O'Neill who nodded and replied, "Just make it quick."

The older four of the group went over to the ship while they stood by the door. Daniel turned to him in confusion, "Jack? What's up?"

"I need to clarify something with all of you, and make sure you're alright with it. If this mission is to succeed, we have to agree on who is in charge."

Carter nodded, "Of course sir. We'll follow whatever order you give us."

He shook his head, surprising all of them, "No, I'm not talking about myself, and I'm not even talking about General O'Neill. This is what we discussed earlier. We need someone that you trust, and I agree with him in his decision. I want you to all follow Colonel Carter's orders. I know out of everyone there, you trust her the most, so unless you absolutely think she's trying to do something that's wrong, you are to follow her orders and I'll do the same."

They all stared at him in surprise. Daniel regained his ability to speak first, "Colonel Carter? Are you sure? Why wouldn't your future self suggest that he be in charge? Wouldn't that make sense?"

Colonel O'Neill glanced behind him. They didn't have a lot of time, but he had to explain this, "Because you trust her more, and because she has more recent experience with command. From what I can tell, she's good at it too. The future team won't listen to me, but they'll listen to her. Please, just do as she says. That's an order." He gave them each a look, waiting until they all nodded.

Teal'c finally responded after being silent for so long, "If you think this is the right course of action then we will follow you in it, O'Neill."

"Thank, T. Right, let's get a move on. We don't want to keep them waiting."

Meanwhile General O'Neill had pulled Colonel Carter aside after asking Teal'c, Jacob, and Daniel to wait on the ship. "Look, I know you don't necessarily want to hear this, but both Colonel O'Neill and I agree that you should be in charge of this mission. Everyone trusts you, and they'll listen to you, even Jacob."

She frowned at him, "But sir, why me? Why not you or Colonel O'Neill?"

He sighed, "You really think our Daniel and Teal'c would listen to Colonel O'Neill or that their team would listen to me? It has to be you if we are to have any sort of chance on this mission. I know you can do it. You've been brilliant for years."

She narrowed her eyes at him, "What is this? A pep talk? Fine, I'll do it, but only because I know arguing will get me nowhere. You better be right about our younger selves. If they don't listen then this could go horribly wrong."

"Yeah, and it could even if they do listen to you." He shrugged while she scowled at him. "I'm just saying it's possible, but I also know you'll do brilliantly. Now, let's go kick some Goa'uld ass." He grinned when she rolled her eyes at him. "I know you can do it, and you know you can do it. Don't let the pressure get to you. We're all here to back you up."

Once they were all crowded in the ship with the hatch closed, Colonel O'Neill looked around skeptically, "So how exactly do you plan to get out of this room, and why do you get the comfortable seat again?" It had quickly been determined that General O'Neill got the front seat along with the older Teal'c beside him. Colonel Carter took a seat, but the older Daniel got bullied out of his seat by the younger Teal'c. There was still a fair amount of room at least, but the others weren't happy.

The General smirked, "How do you think we got it in here in the first place? Don't worry, we made sure the system was present in the present day. Did you even look up when we came in?"

Colonel O'Neill gave a confused look, "What?"

Colonel Carter laughed, "Well, this room was meant to be some sort of hanger bay if we ever needed it. That means the roof retracts here kind of like it does in the gate room. We've put some ships in here over the years, but not very many. They usually ended up somewhere else since we don't really have a way to hide an aircraft or spaceship suddenly taking off from the mountain, however an invisible spaceship is different."

General O'Neill put his hands on the console and lit it up. He quickly made the ship invisible then pointed up, "See, nothing above us. If this hadn't been the case we simply would have landed outside and snuck in. This just seemed like a better option."

The younger group frowned, and Daniel pointed out, "You got caught anyways."

"Ah, but we might have hurt an airman if we'd had to sneak in. It wouldn't have been nice, and I prefer simply being caught and explaining to you." He smirked, knowing the whole plan had been horribly planned and executed, but in their defense, they hadn't had a lot of time to figure it out. He brought them up out of the mountain then flew quickly over to the large opening where the gateroom lay below. He lowered the ship into the gateroom. The gate was being redialed and they readied themselves in front of the gate.

The younger group looked nervously at the gate. Major Carter asked with a nervous undertone to her voice, "Are you sure we'll fit through the gate? You have done this before haven't you?"

Colonel Carter smiled and nodded, "We have, and so have many others. While General O'Neill might not be our best pilot, he's certainly better than most." She gave him a shy smile when he turned a glare to her just as the seventh chevron locked.

Over the intercom they heard General Hammond, "God speed, SG-1."

Colonel O'Neill grinned, "Glad someone wants us to come back alive." He ignored the withering looks from the rest of his team, and even one from his older self.

General O'Neill turned back to the front and breathed out, "Right, let's do this. Everyone hold on." He instructed the ship to fly through the gate which it did, and they suddenly found themselves on the planet. He quickly flew up to get an aerial view, and get away from whatever shot the MALP. They could now see the weapon trained on the gate, but it wasn't aiming at them which meant it hadn't noticed them. That was at least good.

The older Daniel leaned forward to see what was on the ground and pointed in the distance, "That looks like a temple of some sort. Why don't we land, and go check it all out. Land somewhere safe though."

"I know, I know. I'll find a spot with the least amount of bad guys. There's no way we're letting them get this ship or anything on it. Carter, you have the super soldier modulator, right?"

"Yes, sir. My gun and Teal'c's have the modulator read to be turned on. I'll bring along a Sodan cloaks as well, but I'm not sure we can or should carry anything else with us."

"Agreed, we should be fine. Just tread carefully. We have absolutely no idea what we're dealing with." He opened the hatch and shut off all the systems then got up, "Let's head out."

They walked out between the two cliffs, looking around. Few plants scattered the cliffs, reaching up towards the sun through cracks in the rocks. There was little life here or anywhere, it seemed, and what was here, had to work hard to survive. Beyond the cliffs they sat between there stretched open land with some twisted trees, but unfortunately it didn't give them much cover. Colonel Carter scouted out a few rocks and trees, but cover would be difficult if they got into a fire fight.

She turned to the others who were waiting outside a now closed and cloaked ship. Each of them were looking to her, which meant they all had decided she was in charge. She supposed she shouldn't have doubted that General O'Neill was telling the truth. She was quickly in command mode, "There isn't much cover, so we're going to try to avoid getting caught. The purpose of this is to find out if the future Sopdu is here. If we run into the past Sopdu… Well, we might have some problems, but it would be best to avoid him."

Colonel O'Neill held up his hand, "Wouldn't it make everything easier if we just killed the past Sopdu, and then none of this would happen?"

She nodded slowly, "While yes, that is true, we don't know what other consequences that could have. Anything could happen or not happen because he is dead earlier than he was supposed to be."

He shrugged, "Hey, I'm just saying. One less Goa'uld around might not be so bad." She ignored the matching look that the older O'Neill was giving her. They were somewhat right, of course, but that was still a bad idea.

She shook her head, "Let's try to avoid that unless it's absolutely necessary. For now, we infiltrate the temple, and see what we can find. I'm sure we'll run into something so be on your guard."

She took the lead and led them out from between the cliffs. Quickly Teal'c came up beside her, looking ready to attack anything that moved. She was rather hopeful they wouldn't run into any trouble, but the chances of that were highly unlikely.

They walked slowly, and while they were on guard, it did give them a chance to talk. Daniel pointed out some ruins that could help, but she was reluctant to let him go off on his own so she refused both of them. The most important information was likely in that temple.

It seemed far too easy to walk along towards the temple. Either this was the wrong planet, and the Tok'ra were completely wrong or they were walking right into a trap. They came up the side of a rock and laid down, scouting out the area again, but it was all silent and still. Colonel Carter gestured for them to keep moving, speaking quietly, "Just keep your guard up. We don't know what we'll encounter."

They all nodded, and the elder team took the lead, unwilling to let their guard down. They reached the temple door without a problem though which unnerved all of them. Colonel Carter gestured for both Daniels and her father to step forward and figure out the door. It looked to be a fairly simple door, but she wasn't willing to take any chances with traps at this point.

General O'Neill watched the gun that had shot the MALP in the distance. It seemed to be trained on the gate, but there wasn't any security beyond that. He supposed that the Goa'uld thought there would be no way anyone would get past that gun and survive to get anywhere near the temple.

Colonel Carter came and sat beside him on a rock, staring at the gun as well. Teal'c stood near them, prepared for anything, while their younger selves sat in their own corner. For some time they didn't talk, just watched until Carter asked, "You think that'll be a problem?"

General O'Neill shrugged, "I don't think the gun will be much of a problem if it hasn't been already. We should be careful, but I'm more worried about what traps are waiting for us inside. We've never been here before. As much as I wish we could say we know more, we don't. All we know is how to deal with some of the things that may show up, but that doesn't mean we'll know when or where it'll show up." He sounded frustrated by the end.

She nodded, "You're right, of course, but there's also the fact that we need to take point. If any of them get hurt or killed, that affects us too, so it might as well be us in the first place."

He made a face in response, "Yeah, I don't like that either. Let's just be careful. We're here to find information, and if we get lucky, kill a Goa'uld."

She made a face, "You do know it would be better to bring him back to the present then kill him. He'll have information about the time device, and he'll know exactly what he's brought back in time. He's not the only thing we have to kill, and make sure doesn't get into enemy hands. Besides, we need to destroy that time device before someone else can use it."

He frowned in acknowledgement, "You're right, of course, which is why I put you in charge, but that makes this mission far more difficult. Catching and restraining a Goa'uld has never gone well for us."

"If it comes down to it then we kill him, and deal with the consequences. So long as we kill any Super Soldiers, I think any technology will be easy to bring back with us or dispose of. We'll have to burn that bridge when we come to it." He smiled in amusement, as did Teal'c behind him. "What?"

He laughed at her confusion, "Oh, I just think you've become a bit too much like me, is all. You're agreeing far too quickly to simply killing the Goa'uld."

She shrugged, ignoring the growing smile on Teal'c's face, "Maybe I'm just tired, Sir. As much as I understand the need to keep the timeline…" She sighed, "Keeping the timeline might mean killing him."

Teal'c agreed, once again somber, "If killing the Goa'uld makes this job easier for you, Colonel Carter, then I will happily do so."

She smiled in appreciation, "Thank you, Teal'c. We're in this together, for better or for worse." O'Neill smiled in return. After a moment it seemed that Daniel had something, and they heard a click of some sort. She stood, with O'Neill and Teal'c right behind her, and came over to the door which was now slightly ajar. "Well done."

Both Daniel's smiled proudly at her, but her Daniel replied before the other could, "Ah, all in a day's work." He turned and gently pushed the rock wall, amazingly finding that it swing open easily now. He slowly walked in with his gun ready. They all followed, turning on some of the lights on their gun so they could see better than with the faint, distant torchlight.

Colonel O'Neill sighed, "Someone's home, looks like. That or those fires have been burning for a long time."

Colonel Carter nodded, "Be careful. We'll take point. Watch our backs."

He nodded, "Yes, Ma'am." She smiled at the response and turned to continue on slowly. General O'Neill walked just behind her, scanning every inch of the corridor they were in.

Their caution turned out right when they did come into an open room to see two Super Soldiers standing there. Colonel Carter quickly switched on the device on her gun and shot them both. It seemed to work for a moment, but far too soon they were standing back up. A second shot brought them down before either of them could shoot their guns.

She breathed out slowly, looking around the room as General O'Neill shone his light around. From what she could tell it seemed they were all that was in this room in terms of weapons. Apparently the Goa'uld wasn't expecting anyone to come get him let alone get past these Super Soldiers. Good, a cocky Goa'uld made their jobs significantly easier. They couldn't let down their guard though. If he had Super Soldiers, he could have brought anything else back.

The room was dimly lit by a torch on each wall. A pedestal stood in the middle with many different objects scattered across it. The older Daniel walked up to the large pedestal, really being used as a table rather than anything else. There was writing on the tabletop, but it was difficult to read with the objects piled out on top. Both Carter's stepped forward, now being joined by the younger Daniel. Colonel Carter deflated as she looked over the objects, "Sir…"

General O'Neill shone his light at her with a raised eyebrow, "What?"

She picked up what was unmistakably an Ori staff weapon, "This is all Ori technology. Somehow he must have gotten his hands on this. None of this should be in this universe yet."

Major Carter frowned, "You've mentioned the Ori before. Are they a problem in the future?"

Daniel grimaced, "They were. We managed to deal with them, but they were a difficult problem to get rid of, and we needed a lot of help with it. The problem is, if Sopdu has this technology then it's far more advanced than will be easy to deal with. Honestly, at this point, Sam, I suggest we kill him as soon as we get a chance. We're rather out... technologied here." He ignored the look he got from General O'Neill for the made-up word.

Colonel O'Neill looked to Colonel Carter, "Didn't you bring things from the Ancients? I mean, yes, they have more, but we're not completely out-gunned here."

She nodded, "We didn't bring much, and I'm not saying we don't have a chance, but we're still in trouble." She gestured to the table, "While we've dealt with a lot of this, we had more resources and more help."

Selmak was reading over a part of cleared text, "It says here that this is Sopdu's storehouse. Everything he collects comes here. There's also a warning that few have survived this place. We'll have to be careful."

Daniel looked over his shoulder and nodded, "We knew that, but it's nice to be reminded, I suppose. That means even if he's not here, all of his stuff should be here."

Colonel Carter shook her head, "As much as I want to agree with you, much of his stuff is likely with him. At least whatever he can carry along with some Super Soldier bodyguards. There's a lot of technology here, but there's likely more. If he met with his younger self then Sopdu's Jaffa might be equipped with Ori staff weapons."

The older Teal'c shook his head, "No, a Goa'uld would not easily give up his staff weapons. They believe that they are superior to all weapons. No Jaffa would easily accept a different weapon. However, human slaves could be given these weapons, and any technology that would help them fight. They are sacrifices any Goa'uld would be willing to make."

General O'Neill growled, "Of course he would. Okay, so what do we do with all of this? We can't just leave it for him to return for."

Colonel Carter thought for a second then opened her pocket and pulled out some C-4. Everyone seemed to give her a questioning look, "It's a better idea then trying to take all of this back to the jumper. We have plenty of Ori technology ourselves, and we certainly don't need it, and we can't leave this for anyone to grab or study. Our best option is to destroy it."

Daniel nodded, "Of course. It makes sense, and you're right. I was just thinking that's usually Jack's idea."

General O'Neill grinned, "She learned from the best of course."

Major Carter protested weakly, "Are you sure we shouldn't take any of these? It could help us…"

Colonel Carter shook her head, "We'll look through and see what's here, but it's safer to destroy it."

Colonel O'Neill stepped up to actually look over the objects, "I was going to agree with my Carter, but actually, very little of this looks like actual guns or weapons."

Colonel Carter properly looked at the pile. Much of it looked like modified ancient technology that were perhaps computers or vials of something. Other than the staff weapons it all looked fairly useless to them. There may be information, but they couldn't risk that information getting out, "It looks like most of this is power sources and some extra weapons. There's not much we can use here. Except…" She grabbed a staff weapon and her pocket knife, carefully prying out the crystal. She held it up to examine it then pocketed it. She placed the staff back done and nodded.

"Good so we're agreed that we'll blow it up." General O'Neill said impatiently. Colonel Carter stuck the C-4 on the pedestal as a response, setting it to blow on her command. "Let's keep going and then blow this on the way out. I'd rather not trap us in here."

Daniel made a noise like he wanted to stay, but after a look from Jack relented and followed them deeper into the temple.

It wouldn't be long before they wished they had just blown the entrance, and left the temple then and there.


	9. Tooth Fairy?

They decided to set up C-4 wherever seemed it would cause the most damage. They wanted to destroy this temple before Sopdu could come back, or even better, on top of Sopdu himself. Selmak/Jacob and both Daniels translated as they went along, but Colonel Carter wouldn't let them stay long. This wasn't safe territory for them to read whatever they wanted or stay for too long in one spot.

When they were about halfway in the older Daniel called, "Wait." To the rest of the group. He was scanning the walls as they went and now saw one that mentioned traps. The younger Daniel came up beside him to read with him while Colonel Carter watched them expectantly. He explained quickly, "This part of the wall mentions traps up ahead. I might be able to figure out what and therefore keep us from walling into them. Just, give me a second." She nodded, gesturing for him for carry on then made gestures for the others to scout the area for anything resembling a trap, even throwing rocks to try and set something off. They couldn't seem to find any traps, but that didn't necessarily mean anything.

They all returned to Daniel, Selmak, and Teal'c who seemed to be finishing up the text. Colonel O'Neill kicked at the ground, "Well so far all this warning of traps has meant nothing. We can't manage to trigger anything, and considering how far we've walked, I think the threat of traps is more to scare us away than to actually warn us."

The older Daniel shrugged, "It's possible. The text doesn't actually say, but it does continue to warn of traps. It doesn't seem like the Goa'uld style to threaten traps and then not deliver through."

Jacob shrugged, "It's possible as a minor Goa'uld with little resources at his disposal he had to resort to other tactics. It's unlikely, but it is possible. Unfortunately Selmak doesn't know much of Sopdu. He tends to stay out of everyone's way, keeps to the shadows, somewhat like the Tok'ra, actually."

The younger Daniel gave him an odd look, "I thought the Tok'ra were rather against being compared to the Goa'uld in any way."

Jacob shrugged, "Selmak isn't happy about it, but he agrees. He's rather Tok'ra like in that way. In other ways he definitely isn't. He might have got the idea from the Tok'ra."

"Or the Tok'ra got it from him." Colonel O'Neill quipped. He received a glare in return. He was quite surprised not to see glowing eyes along with the glare.

He smirked, receiving a warning look from his older self, "Don't antagonize Jacob. He's actually one of the only Tok'ra I find helpful. If he hates you then you might be in more trouble than you can handle someday."

Colonel O'Neill frowned at him, kicking a rock along, "Ah, I'm sure I can—" He paused when the rock landed on a tile and a couple arrows shot down to the floor, one hitting the rock. "Apparently there are traps."

General O'Neill carefully inched towards the rock and picked it up. "Apparently we just didn't have a big enough rock. Thanks." He nodded to his younger self, fiddling with the rock. "I'll take point. I feel like what we're looking for is through here."

They followed through with far too many near-misses for Colonel Carter's taste. A knife flew in front of General O'Neill's face, only missing because Carter grabbed his vest and pulled him back. They were trying to be careful, but some of the traps were in tiles, while others seemed to be motion sensors, and others were simple, old-fashioned wires. At least any explosions were too small to hit anything but the rock. She was starting to think that if there was ever a doubt that the Egyptian pyramids had traps, this was proof of it.

With another toss of the rock, General O'Neill hit a couple wires that caused more sharp objects to fly from every direction. He sighed, "You know, you'd think a Goa'uld would have more imagination than to throw a bunch of sharp objects at people. Has he ever heard of water or bigger explosions?" He threw another rock to hit the wires he'd missed, calling back, "Careful of the wires here."

Colonel Carter smiled in amusement as she stepped carefully over a wire behind him, "I really wouldn't complain, sir. If water or explosions happen, a rock might not save us from getting hit."

"I'm just saying, you'd think this would be harder than it is." He carefully walked around the corner, now seeing a room ahead of them. They hadn't found much before this, but this looked rather important. They walked slowly towards the door, but stopped before it so they could toss the rock. Nothing triggered and they moved slowly forward to pick up the rock. He tossed it up with a frown then threw it at the door to see what happened.

The motion seemed to trigger a gun of sorts that shot at the door. They all winced as the rock was completely destroyed. Quickly both Teal'cs rose their staff weapons and shot at the area where the shots came from. Colonel Carter slowly walked forward, looking up at the now incapacitated guns. "Let's see what's in here then I think it's time we got out of here."

Each of them nodded in turn and she pushed the door open first, even if General O'Neill would rather she didn't. He'd put her in charge though and he couldn't take that from her now. The room was dark even with torches lighting it like the rest of the temple. She slowly walked in, shining her light around the room. When she didn't see any traps in here, she opened the door fully to allow the others in. She froze when she finally realized what was sitting in the room.

Each of them came in behind her and followed her gaze to the indistinguishable pile. General O'Neill quickly realized what it was just as the younger Daniel asked the question, "What is that?"

Colonel Carter responded quietly, "You said he liked to collect, didn't you?"

The older Daniel came to a realization then, looking over the pile and now walking forward, "Teeth, they're teeth." He let out a humourless laugh. "Tooth fairy indeed." They all stared at the large pile full of different teeth, some with a jaw attached or even a whole skull, but many individual teeth. The pile was huge, and while that wasn't the only thing collected in the room, it certainly took up most of the fairly large room.

The older Daniel and Jacob walked up to the pile, followed cautiously by the others. General O'Neill pulled out his knife in order to pick up what looked to be a Goa'uld head, "Seems when they say he collects teeth, they mean every tooth you could possibly imagine. Do these even count as teeth?"

Colonel Carter shrugged, "If you collect teeth then I guess you collect all kinds of teeth. Daniel, Dad, want to tell me what these other things are, other than the teeth?"

"Uh…" Daniel walked over and picked up some staff weapons and crystals. "Looks like all of this is Goa'uld technology. Nothing special, maybe some information he stole, but it looks like he kept all of the Ori technology outside."

Jacob nodded in agreement, "He's right, none of this is overly important. Just scraps and pieces that the system lords would have deemed unimportant when they scavenge for themselves. Even the information on the crystals is likely useless." He picked up a small one to look it over. "I must say, as much as we knew of his collecting habit, we didn't expect this. Even Selmak is a little sickened by this. There are animals, humans, symbiotes, and anything else you could imagine here. For a minor Goa'uld, he has likely killed many, or at least scavenged a lot of teeth."

General O'Neill dropped the snake head from off his knife, picking through other teeth, but he wasn't seeing anything but a lot of teeth, "I'm not sure which is worse, collecting teeth from those you've killed or collecting teeth from whatever dead body you come across. How come we can't run into a somewhat normal Goa'uld? One that isn't… insane."

Jacob shrugged, "What do you expect from thousands of years of being high and mighty Gods. They get rather confident and start to do whatever they want, including something like this." He gestured at the large pile that reached from floor to ceiling.

"One of these days we're not going to run into over-dressed, cocky, would-be gods. And don't say the Wraith are any different." He shook his finger at Colonel Carter when she opened her mouth to say exactly that. "They're still over-dressed, and kind of play God, they just look sicklier while doing it."

"Well if you're powerful you want followers, and what better way to get followers than to make everyone believe you are a God." Daniel pointed out, shining his light towards his Jack and Sam. "Maybe we should have brought the ark of truth, after all."

Colonel Carter shook her head, "That's a horrible idea, and you know it. That thing is too dangerous, and could change history in catastrophic ways." She waved her arms around to demonstrate her point, ignoring the younger group which looked absolutely confused by the conversation.

Daniel shrugged, "It's just an idea."

General O'Neill scowled at him then looked around with a grimace, "Okay, so I don't see anything useful here. I say be blow up this place, and just get out of here. Perhaps he'll be less cocky if we blow up his teeth collection." He paused when it looked like Sam just came to some realization, "What?"

She frowned at the room with a thoughtful look on her face, "Correct me if I'm wrong, but haven't we seen this before somewhere else?"

He stared at her like she'd now gone insane, "You're asking me if I've ever seen a pile of teeth? No, I haven't seen a pile or teeth before. What are you getting at?"

She turned back to the pile then back to him, "It wasn't this temple, and it was on another planet, maybe in about… three years. We saved some people from a minor Goa'uld with a couple of Jaffa. All the Jaffa had different symbols, meaning they were like a collection of Jaffa—"

General O'Neill quickly cut her off, "Okay, get to the point, what does that have to do with this?"

She gestured to the pile of teeth, "We found teeth scattered about, rather strangely. There was too many scattered around, and there was no bodies attached. I just thought it was weird at the time, but I dismissed it. The thing is, we helped the people destroy a small building that Goa'uld was using as a temple. The people said it would eliminate the power that Goa'uld had."

Her Daniel came up behind her with a confused look, "I don't remember this mission, Sam. What are you talking about?"

Teal'c replied from behind O'Neill, "I believe Jonas Quinn was with us at the time, Daniel Jackson. You were not there. I do remember this planet, but I don't understand the significance."

General O'Neill gave her a look as if to echo Teal'c's comment. She finished, "I think the Goa'uld was Sopdu, and he wants to kill us because we… well destroyed his teeth collection or one of them."

O'Neill stared at her in confusion, actually two of them were looking at her like she was crazy, but the older one at least had some sort of recognition in his eyes. "You're saying that he decided after years that he would go back in time to kill us because we blew up some teeth?"

"No one said the tooth fairy was sane." She snarked, getting an eye roll from her team, accompanied with a scowl from her commanding officer.

Finally Colonel O'Neill got fed up with the confusing conversation, "So a Goa'uld is trying to kill us because in three years we blow up some teeth? Didn't you hear the Goa'uld's name while you were on that planet?"

She shook her head, "No, they never said. They told us there was a God they worshipped, but he deemed them too unworthy to know their name. It was odd for a Goa'uld, but it's not quite as crazy as collecting teeth."

He shook his head, "Normally, Carter, I would never question your ideas, but I have to say this one sounds crazy even if I'd heard it from Daniel. Do you all go crazy in the future or something?"

She shrugged, "I'm not saying I'm right. It's simply a possibility." She paused then pointed a finger at him, "But as crazy as we might be, at least we don't collect teeth." He shook his head and turned away as she ordered, "Set the C-4 then let's get the hell out of here."

Major Carter did as she was told and set the C-4 against a column. The older Daniel went to set some in the other corner, using up the last of their C-4. As he placed it on the column, the room shook with what was either a small earthquake or an explosion. They didn't see anything and other than a few small rocks falling on them they all seemed fine.

They all looked warily around the room when the shaking stopped. Colonel Carter hoped that wasn't one of their C-4 going off because that likely meant they had no way out. They needed to go though. She didn't trust this place to hold, "Head back to the ship. We shouldn't stay here any longer."

She led them quickly back through the corridors, but she should have known better than to relax even for a moment. They were just around a couple corners from the room when a sensor they somehow missed earlier was set off. A moment too late, she realized the sensor had been blocked by some crumpled rocks, but another explosion of another trap or the small earthquake must have opened it up. Before she could think to move, a small explosion sent each of them flying in a white haze.

When the ringing left and his vision started to clear, General O'Neill took assessment of himself. A bit bruised, but he felt mostly fine. He looked around to see their past selves looked fine as well if a bit beat up from being thrown back. They were already sitting up. So far no blood. He turned to his team and his eyes widened, "Sam!"

He scrambled over to her, glad to see she was conscious even if she looked to be in pain. A slash ran through her leg with some shrapnel still stuck in it. He checked over the wound then looked up to her face. She was sweating and gritting her teeth with laboured breathing. Her hair was sticking to her forehead, now also covered in soot and sweat. He told her in the calmest voice he could muster, "There's a lot of shrapnel in the wound and we can't clean it here. We'll have to wrap it quickly, but we need to get you back to the SGC."

She nodded, and responded through gritted teeth, "Anyone else hurt?"

He looked around, properly cataloguing each person. Jacob had a small cut, but Salmek would take care of that. "Yeah, they're fine, perhaps a little bruised, but you took the brunt of that blast." She nodded, looking relatively more relieved.

Daniel knelt down beside him with a grim expression, "What can we do?"

"Get me some disinfectant and something to wrap it, the rest of you make sure we have a clear path to follow out of here. We need to get out of here now." He ignored Carter's sound of protest, instead responding with a command. "We're dealing with this first or this will infect worse than it likely already will, and I need you to not be in the infirmary for a couple of days."

She watched the others head off down the corridor. The only ones who stayed were General O'Neill, her Daniel, and her father. She looked down at her leg with a large metal spike sticking out. "Sir, I don't think that was from the explosion, I think I triggered one of those arrows too, except this hurts more than most arrows."

Jacob looked over the wound, "It might already be infecting, but if it's an arrow then pulling it out could be a bad idea. We'll have to leave it in."

General O'Neill looked down at it, finally probing at the wound, ignoring her gritted cry of pain. He'd seen it enough times to know she could bleed out if he pulled it out. They needed to get her back now. "Dammit." He growled then grabbed the bandages Daniel was just getting out. "Okay, we're wrapping it, and you're going to have to do your best to walk out of here. Got it?"

She nodded and winced, "I think I can manage that." She tightened her hand into a fist when he started to wrap around the arrow to keep it in place and hopefully stop it from getting any worse than it already was. He quickly finished, which had made it far more painful than if they'd had time. "Help me up."

Daniel cut in with a shake of his head, just as the others came back, "Should you really be walking."

"I've had worse, and we need to get out of here quickly which means I need to walk out. So, help me up." General O'Neill grabbed her hand and pulled her up and wrapped an arm around her middle to stabilize her.

She hopped and winced, taking a deep breath as she did. He rose an eyebrow at her, "You sure you don't want to be carried out?" She nodded, for some reason deciding to be the tough soldier at the moment. He turned to the others, "Is the way clear?"

Teal'c answered with a nod, "It is indeed, O'Neill. We can leave quickly." He came to the other side of Carter and took her other arm to give her a better chance of walking quickly.

Colonel O'Neill and the younger Teal'c led the way through the winding corridors, only stopping a couple of times to check that the traps were still taken care of. It seemed like a blur for Colonel Carter, and she was surprised when they were outside. Despite her injury, she still had a strange feeling that it was far too easy. They walked out with some bruises and one bad scratch. Even outside the only security was the gun that sat by the gate.

They hurried back to the jumper, piling in once the hatch was open. General O'Neill sat Sam carefully down on a chair, doing his best not to jostle her leg. "I promise, smooth sailing home and then we'll ensure they fix that leg, good as new."

She smiled weakly, starting to look and sound rather out of it, "I don't think it's been good as new for years so that would be impressive."

He smiled back worriedly, at least she was making jokes. He then quickly turned to start the engines now that everyone was settled. Teal'c took the seat beside him while Daniel sat behind him, checking on Sam. Major Carter was even doing her best to help with her limited medical experience.

Once he was taking off, he turned to Teal'c, "Grab the remote from Carter. Detonate the C-4 once we're in the air. I want that temple destroyed." That Goa'uld had made him angry and now he was going to pay. If he hated losing his teeth collection so much, like Sam suspected, then they were going to destroy all of them if that's what it took. "Damned tooth fairy." He muttered, ignoring the raised eyebrow he received from Teal'c who was now holding the detonation device.

As they flew over the temple, Teal'c detonated the C-4, causing explosions to rock under them. General O'Neill commanded someone to dial the gate, which Daniel did and put in the iris code as they flew towards the gate. Their mission here was complete. They'd destroyed some of his supply, and perhaps found out why he was doing this, even if it was a ridiculous idea.

Soon they found themselves in the gate room with General Hammond looking through the jumper window, likely counting to ensure that each of his team was still present and accounted for. He obviously still didn't trust them, but that wasn't important right now. General O'Neill used the ship radio to tell him, "We're going to need a medical team. I'll land in the same room we were in before, if they could meet us there."

General Hammond quickly agreed, not knowing who was hurt. The jumper flew up towards the roof to land in the room on level 14. The medical team met them there, ready to rush in for whomever needed them. The younger team parted and pointed to the clearly injured Colonel Carter.

Doctor Fraiser rushed forward, examining the leg, "We're going to have to do some surgery on this. That looks like it's in deep." She looked up, now seeing that this was Colonel Carter, and not her Sam. She smiled all the same, looking happy to see her despite the large piece of metal sticking out of her leg. "How did this happen?"

"Explosions and arrows, you know, normal things." Colonel Carter replied, assuring Doctor Fraiser that she was still conscious even if she didn't sound good. Carter winced when Doctor Fraiser prodded the wound, but she knew better than to tell her to stop.

Doctor Fraiser nodded, then commanded, "Let's get her to the infirmary and prep her for surgery. I want everyone else here to submit to the infirmary as well, no matter how minor the injury." She gave a look to Colonel O'Neill who simply rolled his eyes, but still watched worriedly as Carter was taken away.

Colonel O'Neill stepped up beside his older self with a frown. He could feel the anxiety coming off of him. "She'll be fine." He only received a grunt in reply before he walked off. He frowned and turned to his team since the older Daniel, Teal'c, and Jacob all followed quickly behind. "Nice, guy."

Daniel and Carter laughed while Teal'c rose his eyebrow. Teal'c responded in as serious a voice as ever, "I believe he is you, O'Neill and has not changed much over the years." Carter hid her laugh behind her hand while Daniel just laughed at the offended look that crossed Jack's face.

Daniel gestured to the corridor, "Let's just follow them. I'm sure he's just worried about her. You tend to do get upset when you're worried."

O'Neill huffed and started to walk after everyone else, "I can be perfectly kind when I'm worried. Anyways, it's just a scratch. You've had worse." He gestured to Major Carter who gave him a questioning look and muttered that it was really worse than a scratch.

Daniel looked between them and replied sardonically, "It depends on the day." He smirked at the scowl he received in return, walking quicker towards the elevator where the others were waiting to be taken down to the infirmary, each of them completely silent.


	10. Down But Not Out

When General O'Neill reached the infirmary he was immediately demanding answers from the nurses, "Is she okay?" The nurses tried to tell him to sit and let them run tests, but he refused until they told him what exactly was going on. Finally Daniel grabbed his shoulder and gave him a look before he did as he was told.

He was just finishing his checkup when a nurse came from an isolation room, "She is still in surgery, but Doctor Fraiser wanted me to tell you that she'll be fine and you'll all be able to see her soon enough." The nurse scurried off before the rather intimidating General could scold her for something. She'd dealt with Colonel O'Neill enough.

Once everyone was all done with their check-ups, Jacob came up to them, glancing towards the isolation room where the surgery took place, "As much as I'd love to stick around, I need to go back to the Tok'ra. I promise I won't tell them anymore than they need to know, but they may have more information that could be useful. We still need to find Sopdu."

General O'Neill's frown deepened, "Yeah, I'd like to ask the Tok'ra a few questions, unfortunately these Tok'ra won't have any answers. Don't trust anyone, Jacob, I mean it. I know they're your people now, but we don't know who to trust. Get the information, but you can't tell them what you know."

Jacob frowned, likely arguing with Selmak for a moment, "Alright, we understand, but Selmak doesn't like it."

"Well, at this point, trust could get you killed. I'd rather not put you in any danger, but I know the Tok'ra wouldn't tell me a thing if I went and demanded it of them. Good luck." He gave him a grim smile then walked away.

Major Carter walked out into the corridor to hug her father and gave him a kiss on the cheek. He spoke quietly, after glancing around to ensure no one could hear them, "Stay safe, and trust them. You might be wary at the moment, but you need to trust them. They're here to keep you alive."

She nodded, "I'm starting to. She took that blast. It could have been an accident, but I doubt that. Their story checks out. We'll be fine, Dad. You be safe. General O'Neill is right, we can't trust anyone right now or it could get us killed. I'm just glad they trust you."

Jacob glanced back into the room, "Sometimes I still wonder. Well, I'll see you soon, kid." He turned and headed for the gate.

* * *

Doctor Fraiser finished up the stitches on the now open wound on Sam's leg. One of the nurses had gone to do some tests on the arrow which they'd noticed had more than just blood on it. She hoped there wasn't poison because then they'd have to deal with more than just a healing leg wound. Until they figured out what it was, she'd have to ensure the leg didn't get infected.

She glanced to the tray that contained her dog tags. It was the only personal thing they'd found on her once they'd removed her vest and weapons. That hadn't been overly surprising, but what was surprising was finding a wedding ring on the chain as well. It was simple but beautiful, but the implications didn't escape her.

She continued to watch her vitals while they let the drugs run out of her system. She was sure SG-1 from both the future and present would want to see her, but she wanted to be sure everything was fine before she allowed that. Besides, she wanted to talk to her first.

After an hour the nurse came back in with some superficial results. "Ma'am?" She handed over the information she had, which wasn't a lot, but enough for Janet to see they had a problem. It seemed that whatever was on the arrow was a virus, but it was unlike anything she'd seen before. "The sample and arrow have been quarantined, but I am having everything cleaned. We'll ensure this doesn't spread but…" She looked to the woman lying in the bed.

Janet nodded, looking worriedly down at her, "I'll take care of her. Keep checking on the virus. Check your own blood to make sure you don't have any trace of it as well as anyone else who has come in contact with the arrow." The nurse nodded and went to do as she was told. Janet could only hope it wasn't passed through air, but there was no doubt Sam would have this virus. She'd have to keep an eye on her.

After another half hour while she was checking on the wound, Sam started to wake. She stirred and groaned. She was at least glad to see she was waking up. She did want to talk to her, and she was sure the others did too. She looked over the chart then smiled as Sam blinked open her eyes. "Hey there, how're you feeling?"

Sam winced, looking around in confusion for a moment, "Janet…?" She looked around to get her bearings then replied to her question, "Little sore… What's going on?" She tried to sit up, wincing when a shot of pain went through her.

She stood and placed a hand gently on her hand to calm her. "Well, you were hit by an arrow and some shrapnel from an explosion. What do you remember?"

She stared at her for a moment, as if still confused by something, but then a light seemed to go on as she realized what was happening, "Uh, I think I remember somehow walking out of that temple and then the rest is a bit of blur. Is everyone else alright?"

She nodded, "They're all fine, thanks to you. They're outside, rather worried about you. I wanted to wait to let them in. We found traces of a virus present in the arrow that hit you. We're going to watch for infection, but we're going to need to ensure you don't get sick."

Sam furrowed her brow, looking at her, rather worried now, "What virus?"

Janet shook her head, "You need to rest, not work. We'll deal with it."

She shook her head, "Let me see. I came back in time to save people, not sit around. Let me see what you have."

Janet frowned then reluctantly handed the clip board to her with the little information they had, "It's not much, but so far we don't recognize the virus. We're quarantined the arrow and cleaned anything that could have been infected. However, we didn't find any trace of it in your blood, so—"

"I know what this is." Sam interrupted while staring ashenly at the clip board.

Janet looked puzzled, looking over the clip board which had little information on it, "How could you possibly know what this is?"

Sam sighed, looking absolutely exhausted, "I studied this virus for days in order to help come up with an antidote. I don't know how he put this virus on that arrow, but somehow he did, and we're all in trouble." She handed the clip board back to her. "Janet, you have to ensure this spreads to no one, and that means until you're sure this virus isn't in my system, I shouldn't be near anyone I can infect."

Janet nodded slowly, "Yes, we took every precaution we could, and we'll take more if we need to. Right now, I want to ensure you're going to be okay. This virus is in your system and that can be incredibly dangerous."

She shook her head, "No, I'll be fine. I at least have an immunity to this disease now, as does General O'Neill, my Daniel, and Teal'c. Don't worry about me."

Janet gave her a look, taking the papers back from her, "I'll be the judge of what is and isn't worthy of worrying about. I hate to tell you, but even if you're immune to the virus, it can still cause an infection in the wound."

Sam nodded reluctantly, wincing and rubbing at her leg with the hand not attached to an IV, "I know, but I can't risk getting you sick. I'm not sure I can help if other people get sick. I'll be fine, honestly. You can let them in, just not anyone from the present, I can't risk them getting sick." She looked distractedly towards the door.

Janet looked at her worried, then stopped her hand which might just hurt her leg more, "Okay, I'll go get them. Although, I wanted to ask…" She carefully grabbed the dog tags from the table beside her. "I didn't know you were married."

Sam's eyes snapped from the door to Janet and to the ring hanging from the dog tags. She opened her mouth then snapped it shut to think for a moment before she replied, "I am, but it didn't seem like an important thing to tell you. It's not pertinent to the mission."

Janet nodded, "No, I suppose it isn't. I just, didn't take you for a person to settle down. I hope I approved."

Janet looked away to put the dog tags back down so she missed the flinch Sam gave. Sam took a deep breath before replying, "He was worth it, and I think you would approve if you knew who it was. I hope so, anyways." Janet gave her a bit of a confused look, but didn't get a chance to ask before Sam continued, "If you could give those to General O'Neill, I'd appreciate it. Best to not let that lie around while I'm in here."

Janet nodded, picking them back up and putting them in her pocket, "Yeah, of course. You get some rest. I'll inform them that you're okay, and maybe send your team in to check on you." She received only a nod in reply. "Alright, get some rest, and tell me if you need anything."

* * *

Major Carter re-entered the room and found the large group still waiting, despite the nurses insistence that they leave and they'll be informed when she's out of surgery. Somehow, despite the duplicated image of each teammate, it was a very familiar scene. SG-1 waited as close as possible until they were absolutely sure their teammate was okay. Even when out of danger, but simply resting, they tended to hover around the infirmary. It had become a habit over the last couple of years, and one she was glad of.

Colonel O'Neill turned to her, noticing her scrutiny, and smiled, "Ah, Carter. Jacob's gone? Well, you can join us in waiting around for… you, or perhaps you all want to go get something to eat?"

She shook her head, "Ah, no sir. I think we're fine waiting here. Although I'm sure the nurses would prefer if we waited somewhere a little more out of the way."

He rose an eyebrow at her, but conceded, "I suppose we're taking up double the amount of room of usual. We can wait outside." The younger Daniel and Teal'c easily agreed, feeling safe in the knowledge that their Sam was fine, but the other three seemed to be zoned out. Colonel O'Neill snapped a finger, "Hey, come on. Before we get dragged out of here."

The other Daniel and Teal'c finally looked up at him, taking a moment to process his words then nodded. Daniel turned to Jack with a strange expression, gently touching his shoulder, "Come on, Jack. We'll wait outside. She'll be fine, we just need to be out of the way."

General O'Neill looked up in surprise then nodded, "Yeah, of course she'll be fine. She's been through much worse than this. I was just thinking about… Never mind."

Teal'c rose an eyebrow, "Thinking about what, O'Neill?"

General O'Neill shook his head, "This isn't the place to talk about this. Carter should hear this too. Let's get out of the way."

They went into the corridor, most of them leaning against the walls while two of them sat in the chair to wait. General O'Neill resumed thinking, refusing to tell any of them what he was thinking about. Colonel O'Neill assumed it had to be about Carter, he just wasn't willing to admit it. The others were starting to agree, but Daniel could tell something else was off.

After some time, Doctor Fraiser exited the infirmary, finding them all there. She held something in her hand, but it was difficult to see what it was. She spoke directly to General O'Neill in a controlled and serious tone, "She's out of surgery and recovering. There were some complications, but we worked through them. It seems the arrow had some sort of poison or virus on it, but her body dealt with it far better than I thought possible."

General O'Neill interrupted before she could continue, "Virus? What do you mean?"

"Well I've never seen anything quite like it, but it seemed her body could deal with it. It infected the wound, but that will clear shortly. She'll be fine. However, Sam recognized it, told me to make sure no one came into contact with it, and for now, only you three are allowed to see her." She gestured to the three older members of the group.

Daniel looked from Janet to Jack with a worried expression, "You said Sam knew what it was…? Jack, you don't think—"

"That a Goa'uld found a way to take the Ori virus and put it on arrows? I really hope that isn't it, but… If Sam thinks so then it's highly likely. So long as we take the right precautions, we should be fine for now, so long as no one but one of us goes anywhere near that arrow from here on out. If there are traces of the virus still present, we don't want anyone else to be infected. We likely have an immunity." He gave a pointed look at the younger team. They returned baffled looks, unsure how to respond.

Doctor Fraiser nodded, "Yes sir… Um…" She paused, glancing to the younger team, "Could I talk to you in private for a moment?" General O'Neill gave her a confused look then nodded, gesturing just around the corner inside the infirmary. Once there, he rose an eyebrow at her in question. "Sam asked me to give you this. I would normally leave these for her, but she asked me to bring these to you so no one else would see them." She held out Colonel Carter's dog tags to him, and even he seemed surprised by the shining ring on it. He had thought she'd left it at home after her speech about no one knowing they were married. Janet took his confusion as a sign he didn't know, "I didn't realize she was married, and it seems neither did you."

General O'Neill carefully took the tags, holding the ring between his fingers, "Oh, I knew she was married. Most people don't, and it wasn't something she wanted people in the past to know. We were trying to tell you as little information as possible. Apparently, we're really bad at that." He smiled grimly, but there was a sparkle in his eye.

Janet nodded slowly, "Mind telling me who or is that a secret?"

General O'Neill chuckled, "Didn't I just say we were trying not to tell you too much information? If we can avoid it, we won't tell you that. Anyways, if Sam didn't tell you, then I won't. It's not my place to tell." He nodded to her. "Thank you for giving this to me. We should…" He nodded to the corridor where the others were waiting.

They left the infirmary and came out to the others talking adamantly about whether or not they could see Colonel Carter, while Daniel convinced them otherwise. Daniel nodded to Jack, watching him tuck dog tags into his pocket. He rose an eyebrow but didn't say anything about it. "I was just telling them that they'll be allowed to see her later if we determine she isn't contagious, but for now they need to stay out here."

General O'Neill nodded then gave the younger group a pointed look, "We'll come inform you when we leave. I think all of us going to see her might be a bit of a crowd, anyways. Just wait out here, or go get something to eat. We won't be long."

Major Carter stepped up to him, looking ready for a fight, which he honestly wasn't completely sure why, "There's more to this you aren't telling us."

"There's more to this I can't tell you. You of all people should understand that. Now, _Major_ , I suggest you follow orders before we have an epidemic on our hands. I'm honestly not sure why you all want to see her since your Carter is fine right here." The last part was directed at all of them, but he was still looking at Major Carter.

Major Carter deflated, especially when she got a raised eyebrow from Colonel O'Neill. General O'Neill turned and walked in, waving them off with a frustrated growl as he went. Daniel and Teal'c quickly followed, leaving the younger team alone outside.

Once they were out of earshot, Colonel O'Neill turned to Carter, "Fine line there, Carter." She sent him a withering look. "I know, he's technically not your superior officer, and he… well he was being an ass, but he's right. We can't pry into our futures, and if there is a virus, we should be careful."

She nodded, "I know that, Sir. It's just hard to imagine having their life. They seem different, somehow, and even if she isn't me now, she will be me someday."

He nodded, "I don't really see that as a bad thing. People change, and you will change. But from my point of view it doesn't seem like you've changed all that much. She's still you, and as much as I might hate to say it, General O'Neill is still me. Maybe he's a bit more… diplomatic, but he hasn't changed all that much." She smiled at that, raising an eyebrow at him. "Don't worry about it now. It's not worth it. I mean there's a chance someday you'll end up with that wound in your leg, but it's certainly not the first time it would happen."

She nodded slowly, "Actually, sir, if we kill Sopdu in the past then we'll never have to do this and I'll never end up hurt from an explosion." She shrugged, turning to Daniel who nodded in agreement as he and Teal'c joined the conversation. "We are trying to avoid changing our future though, but at this point that seems rather difficult."

Daniel shrugged, "So long as everything stays mostly the same, it isn't a problem right?"

O'Neill nodded, "Shouldn't be, but at the same time, they seem rather willing to give their lives so we can live. I'm not sure I like it."

Daniel replied logically, "Well think about it, wouldn't you want to ensure that your past takes place? If that means giving your life so it can happen then so be it. Without a past there is no future to live anyways."

Colonel O'Neill waved his hand in a cutting motion, "I know that Daniel. I was just saying that I don't like people giving their lives for me, even if it is me." He turned back to Major Carter with a sigh, "I suppose I understand how you feel, but try not to argue too much with a General, even if he isn't technically your superior officer."

She smiled a bit, "Yes, sir. I suppose that would be the smart thing to do."

"Yeah, tell me again why I'm the one being smart here?"

She giggled, and Teal'c responded, "Perhaps because you know yourself the best, O'Neill. Now, I believe we are in need of nourishment. Shall we eat while we wait?"

* * *

General O'Neill walked into the isolation room, taking in her form. She was conscious, but she looked tired. He was happy to note she looked better than she had when he'd left her. At least she seemed to be in less pain. She smiled at him when he grabbed a stool and sat beside her. Daniel and Teal'c came to stand on the other side of her bed, "Hey guys."

"You know, Carter, I thought I taught you not to get hit by explosions." She gave him the desired smile, even giggling softly and reaching out her hand for him to take. He took the offered hand with a returned smile, glancing at the camera in the corner, "You sure?"

She nodded, "I don't think they can see from that angle. Even if they can, I doubt anyone would be brave enough to ask." She smirked while they all chuckled. "Is everyone else okay?"

Jack nodded, "Yeah, they're fine. A little bruised up, but fine. We're all worried about you. You gave us quite the scare."

"Us?" She rose an eyebrow, ignoring the snicker from Daniel, and Teal'c's perfectly raised eyebrow.

Jack shot them a scowl, "I'm sure Daniel and Teal'c were worried too."

When Sam gave Daniel a look, he rose his hands in defense, "We were. Just no one gets as worried as Jack. He was even a bit snippy with Major Carter."

Sam turned to give Jack a questioning look now, which only intensified when Teal'c added, "Indeed."

He tried to come up with a reason, but found he had none and deflated under her gaze. He felt a bit better when he felt her squeeze his hand gently. She had a bit of a teasing smile. "Just try not to scare her too much. She may remember that, and then where would we be?"

"You're saying you were never scared of me?"

She nodded from side to side, "I have been, but that doesn't mean I ever liked when you were upset with me. I just learned not to get on your bad side. At first I was a little scared, but I was too focused on proving myself that it didn't make much of a difference."

He chuckled and nodded, "I suppose that makes sense. I'll try to be a bit nicer to her." She hummed in agreement then winced slightly. He looked her over then settled on her leg where her other hand had come to rest, "You okay?"

She nodded, "Yeah, just hurts a bit. They've got me on a bunch of drugs, but every once in a while there's a little stab of pain. Nothing I can't handle."

They all looked at her worriedly, "Doc mentioned it might get infected. You need to take care of it, and yourself. We need you here." Jack said with worry lacing his voice. "Maybe we should leave you to get some rest. We just came to make sure you were okay."

She grabbed his hand tighter, which actually surprised him. She spoke quietly, contrary to her tight grip, "Stay, please?"

He nodded, "Okay, we'll stay for a bit longer, at least until you fall asleep. You need to rest, let us worry about the mission. There's nothing to do right now other than ensure you get better and that virus doesn't spread."

She hummed tiredly, "We have to stop him before anyone contracts that virus. We were lucky it was one of us that got hit. While I made the antidote, I'm not entirely sure I could do it this time without Orlin's help."

Jack frowned, unconsciously rubbing his thumb over her knuckles, "We'll jump off that bridge when we come to it, okay? Don't worry about it right now. No one's sick yet."

She laughed humourlessly, "Should have thought to bring some of the antidote with us."

Daniel jumped into the conversation with a shake of his head, "Oh come on, Sam. You can't expect yourself to come up with everything. There's absolutely no way you could have known he would somehow make a synthetic version of the Ori plague. You can't know everything, as much as you might want to."

She looked ready to fight him, but the fight left her quickly as she sighed, "You're right, of course. I just wish it wasn't true. I suppose if I had expected everything this mission would be much easier."

Jack nudged her lightly with their joined hands, "Hey, if the Tok'ra couldn't stop one minor Goa'uld from travelling back in time, you can't expect yourself to predict absolutely every step he's going to take. Don't blame yourself. It doesn't help anyone when you carry the weight of the world on your shoulders."

She sighed, looking to the wall, a little forlorn. Apparently his attempt to cheer her up hadn't worked. He frowned then gave both Daniel and Teal'c a look and a nod towards the door. Daniel actually caught on quickly for once, "Uh, hey Teal'c why don't we go see what we can find out, and maybe check on our younger selves."

Teal'c looked confused for a moment the nodded, "Indeed." He stood and put a hand on Colonel Carter's arm in reassurance before he left the room with Daniel.


	11. Waiting and Recovery

When Daniel and Teal'c left, Sam glanced at General O'Neill, obviously noticing the other men's hasty escape. She turned quickly back to the wall, sure he would start when he wanted to. He studied her for a couple minutes before he spoke, realizing she was getting to be more tired by the minute, and delaying this wouldn't help. He hoped talking would help, anyways. "You know you don't have to do this alone, right?"

She turned back to him with a "No really?" sort of look on her face. It shifted far too quickly into a tired and forlorn look again, "You say that, but we both know that isn't true."

"Oh for crying out loud. There's another you somewhere on this base, Carter. Your dad is helping us out, and Daniel can handle anything else. You don't have to do everything alone. I know I put you in charge, which perhaps wasn't fair of me, but everyone trusts you."

She nodded, "It was the right call. I'm not blaming you for that. I'm not blaming you for any of this, honestly." Her free hand started to fiddle with the sheets, although she was still careful of the IV going into that arm. "This isn't even about this mission. I can handle it, and I'll be fine, but you can't tell me that it's starting to be too much for you too."

He narrowed his eyes in thought, losing track of the conversation, "What are you saying?"

She started to nervously move her thumb over his hand while staring down at her lap, "I'm saying as much as I love my job, at some point it's too much for us. I mean look at us, since we've been together, all we've had is weekends here and there with a week off if we're lucky. They promised us a week of vacation this week, but the world needed us. Sometimes it feels like we'll never get a break. The world will always need us, which means the military will never let us go. I just wish they'd let someone else handle it now."

He sat still for a moment, thinking, making her worry she'd said something to upset him. His hand squeezed hers when he saw her worried expression, "Sam… I know what you're saying, but at the moment, we don't have much of a choice unless you retire as well. If I retire then we'll see each other less, so at the moment that isn't an option. As much as I'd love for you to retire, I know you need your job."

"I need you too…" She practically whispered. "I do love the Hammond and the crew, but I also miss you. After everything we've done, there has to something more we can do."

He shook his head, "Trust me, I've looked over it. We don't have a lot of options, and none of them are particularly good options. Besides, we already got what was owed us when they let us be together, even if that meant a long distance relationship. I know, it isn't fair, and I'm tired too, but we just have to live with it."

"I know, and I know you're dealing with the same problem. You're working a job that you hate with a bunch of people that I know you hate." He smiled at that. "Days like today I want to take you up on your offer of just running away. It would be so much easier if we could."

He chuckled, lifting her hand to kiss her knuckled gently, "It's still an offer, although I always assumed that you'd never take me up on it."

"Probably not, but it's a nice thought." She sighed, closing her eyes for a moment. "Just promise we'll actually get a vacation when this is over."

He smiled, "All the time you want is yours. I'll make sure the universe doesn't end for at least two weeks."

She nodded with a giggle, "That sounds nice. I think I'll keep you to that promise."

He watched her blink tiredly then wince, her hand tightening around his. He frowned worriedly then stood, not letting go of her hand. "Why don't we continue this when we're home and we can actually have that supposed vacation? For now, you need some sleep. Let the leg heal. I'll take care of everything for now."

"I just need something to hope for so we can get through this. There has to be a future to save, after all." She smiled sadly up at him and he returned it. He leaned down and kissed her forehead. "Get some rest. That's an order."

"Yes sir." She replied sleepily, trying to stifle a yawn. He smiled down at her, thinking about leaving, but decided to sit down at least until she fell asleep. She seemed to agree since she didn't let go of his hand even as she closed her eyes.

What they didn't realize was Doctor Fraiser was standing by the door, coming to check on her when she saw the gentle kiss, and now noticed the interlaced hands resting on the bed. She smiled to herself, and decided to watch, at least until Sam was asleep. She didn't need to be told who had given that ring to Sam, not anymore, and Sam was right, she did approve. He certainly cared for her very much.

She came in once she was sure Sam was asleep, pretending not to notice when General O'Neill slipped his hand out of Sam's. He looked up at her with an appreciative smile, "Look after her, Doc. We need her for this."

She nodded to him, "Of course, Sir." He nodded with a grim expression as he looked over Sam then quickly left the room.

He headed straight to the commissary, accompanied by an SF, of course. He didn't mind though. It wasn't like he was planning on doing anything at the moment. He found all of them sitting around two tables pushed together, chatting quietly. General O'Neill took a seat beside his Teal'c, nodding to the others in brief acknowledgment.

Everyone paused their conversation to look at him. He hadn't grabbed anything to eat so it was likely a bit strange. He was surprised when Major Carter was the first to ask the question, "So, how is she?"

He shrugged, "She's fine. She's sleeping now and her leg is hurting her, but Doctor Fraiser will take care of her."

They each nodded thoughtfully. After a moment of silence, the older Daniel pushed a folder towards him, "I was looking at this," He passed over the information the Tok'ra had first given them with the date and planet he was coming to. "Maybe we should check this place out. It's highly likely he moved on right away, but it's worth a look. There may be a clue as to where he went or anything else."

General O'Neill shook his head, "What more information can this place give that we already didn't get from the temple, Daniel? No, it's too dangerous."

Major Carter argued quickly, "Sir, I think this could help. He may even still be there. If we send through a MALP and find nothing then we won't go, but it might be worth a shot. At the moment, we have nothing else to find this Goa'uld."

He shook his head, "And it could just be another trap. We don't know what to expect. The answer is no." He gave her and Daniel a look, stealing a grape from Teal'c's plater, ignoring the glare he received.

Major Carter simply returned his look with a defiant one of her own, "You're not my superior officer, so you don't get to order me around. I can bring this to Hammond or even Colonel O'Neill to accept this plan."

He rose an eyebrow at her, smirking when Colonel O'Neill replied for him, "No, he's right. We're not going anywhere until Jacob gets back. If he finds information about this place then we'll check it out. If he finds no information we'll at least send a MALP to check it out. Chances are, this place has been deserted since Sopdu showed up."

General O'Neill nodded to himself in gratitude, "Well, there's your answer. Besides, I think we need to stop and wait. Colonel Carter needs to recover, and it's nice to have Jacob as backup in all of this. So while we're eating, can we please talk about something else?"

Major Carter made a face, but Colonel O'Neill quickly agreed, "He's right. We're all a little tense. Why don't we talk about something else? Like…" He turned to the older Teal'c. "Teal'c what's with the hair?"

General O'Neill and Daniel burst out laughing, finding relief in the act. Even the older Teal'c chuckled at the question. The younger group looked absolutely confused, although they couldn't help but smile themselves. The burst of laughter drew attention from the few other people present in the commissary. They probably would never get used to how weird things could be with SG-1.

The younger team stared at them until they stopped laughing. Colonel O'Neill said after glancing around the room then back at them, "It was just a question."

General O'Neill nodded, still smiling widely, "Yeah, I know. It's just… Well Teal'c's hair grew while I was… away for a little while, and I asked the same question when I woke up. That's all."

They all smiled at that, including Major Carter who had looked a little put out at being shut down by someone who looked like her commanding officer but wasn't. Then she'd been confused, but not she was relaxing steadily. She started to munch on her Jello while smiling. After swallowing she asked amidst the slowly dying laughter, "So what was the answer?"

General O'Neill turned to Teal'c then, "Actually you never did answer the question. I mean Thor's planet was in trouble, and we needed to rescue Carter, but I never got my answer."

Teal'c opened his mouth to answer, but Daniel interrupted him this time, "In all the years since, you haven't thought to ask Teal'c this question? Some friend you are."

He frowned, "Hey, things were rather busy after all of that, if you don't remember. It kind of slipped my mind, and then I never found a good time to ask. It was simply a part of him them."

Teal'c smiled in response, "It was simply a decision I made. You can ask Colonel Carter if you truly wish to know. She was around during those months you were gone."

He narrowed his eyes at him, "Perhaps I will."

Teal'c nodded to him while Daniel smiled. The younger Daniel cut into the conversation they were getting left out of, "Okay, so that explains the hair, but that doesn't explain the gray streak. What's that about?"

They shared looks before the older Daniel answered, "That's a long story, and one we'd rather not tell. Just know that Teal'c can actually get old, but he can still beat Jack if he wants to. Not all that surprising since Bra'tac could do so as well." He smirked at General O'Neill who shot him a scowl. "But enough about us, let's hear about you."

Colonel O'Neill held up a finger, "Correct me if I'm wrong, but don't you know everything about us and what we've been doing recently."

Daniel shrugged, "Yes, but it's been awhile, and you can actually tell us things without there being any trouble for the timeline, so come on, tell us something exciting." This opened it up for the younger Daniel and Carter to explain far too much about experiments. It seemed only to show how much they didn't have a life. Daniel almost forgot how little of a life they'd had for years. Not that he was all that much better now, but Vala tended to pull him away from work for a little bit. Jack did the same for Sam, although she tended to go more willingly.

Over time both O'Neills seemed to get more annoyed with the way the conversation had turned. General O'Neill actually went and got some food, although he mostly picked at it, so it seemed it was more of a distraction than actual nutrition. Colonel O'Neill started to do the same, getting up for more food when he ran out.

Part way through a tale of artifacts, the older Daniel nudged General O'Neill and whispered, "You remember how we were bugging Sam about eating? You need to eat too, Jack." He scoffed quietly in reply, so Daniel continued, figuring that was the only response he would get, "I know you're worried, but she's fine. After this you can go see her again if you want. You still need to eat."

Teal'c added in an equally quiet, but deeper tone, "He is correct, O'Neill. You are in need of sustenance."

He still didn't reply, but started to actually eat the food on his platter. Daniel and Teal'c both relaxed back into position, listening to the information the young Doctor Jackson was regaling them with. He hadn't even noticed the conversation that would indicate they hadn't been listening to him, however, Colonel O'Neill did. He eyed them, but seemed to decide it wasn't of consequence and went back to his pie.

After some time, Colonel O'Neill was asked to see General Hammond, which he was more than happy to agree to. He got up quickly, told Daniel it was interesting and hurried off to see General Hammond. General O'Neill did his best to contain his laughter. Daniel frowned, watching him leave, "He didn't listen to a word I said, did he?"

Carter smiled at him and patted his shoulder, "I'm sure he found the whole thing fascinating, Daniel. But don't worry, there's still one O'Neill at the table ready to hear all the tales you want to tell."

General O'Neill gave her a look, "You're not really one to be talking here, Carter."

She returned a bashful smile and muttered, "Sorry, Sir."

He smiled back at her, "Ah, it's fine. You eventually get better at it or perhaps I learned to enjoy it." He ignored the look Daniel gave him although it was more amused than his usual embarrassment at comments like that.

Major Carter simply seemed not to understand, "Uh… thank you Sir, I think."

He gave her a charming smile in reply. Daniel nudged him, leaning over and whispering, "I don't think Sam would appreciate you flirting with her younger self."

He shrugged, "I don't think she'd mind. Speaking of…" He spoke louder to the whole group. "I'm going to go check on Sam. I'll be there if any of you need me. I suggest you all get some rest while we wait." He gave them all a look before walking out of the room. It had been nice to spend some time relaxing, but he really wanted to get back to checking on her.

* * *

Colonel O'Neill strolled into General Hammond's office and closed the door when the General gestured for him to do so. He got right to the point after Colonel O'Neill sat down, "I want to know what happened out there, Colonel. How did she get shot?"

He nodding, figuring that since they couldn't formally have a briefing at the moment, this would have to do, "She took charge of the mission so she was leading us around. On the way back out of the temple we missed a sensor and some sort of explosion went off as well as some arrows. She was the only one severely injured."

General Hammond nodded, "Why did she take charge? Was that General O'Neill's idea? I thought I said you would be in charge."

"You did, Sir, but the fact is that everyone trusts her more. The other team wasn't going to listen to me, and even my team is on rocky grounds with me. It was the best course of action, and likely kept anyone else from being hurt. She's a good commander, Sir. She knew what she was doing."

He nodded thoughtfully, "Why didn't General O'Neill wish to take control of the mission?"

"Colonel Carter has had more field experience recently, and again, he didn't think my team would listen to him. He brought the idea to me and I agreed. It was a mutual and informed decision we made, Sir."

"And this thing about your team not trusting you?"

"Well Sir, it took a blow to their trust in me when I went undercover. We're functioning fine, and I think Carter understands more than Daniel or Teal'c, but there's still a lack of trust there. I didn't want that to affect this mission so Colonel Carter was put in charge. Even Jacob agreed to this."

General Hammond nodded, "Jacob was rather tight lipped about the whole thing. I'm just glad you all got out alive. I'm sure Doctor Jackson will tell me later, but what did you find out?"

O'Neill shrugged, picking up a paper clip and starting to play with it, "Seems this Goa'uld has a stash of technology that has now been destroyed, but we're sure there's more. He has quite the plan to kill us. And apparently if he does kill us, we become part of his collection of teeth." He waved him off when he got a strange, confused look in reply. "The point is, he needs to be stopped before anyone else gets hurt or killed. The problem is, we have to wait until Jacob gets back. The older team has another address, but they think it'll be a trap."

"And what do you think?"

He shrugged, "I think it might be, but I'm not sure. I say we should try to send a MALP, but you'd have to get the address from them, and I doubt they'd be willing to share. Besides, we should probably wait on Colonel Carter recovering enough to help. She is an asset, Sir."

"Yes, but from your own assessment, we don't have a lot of time to stop this Goa'uld."

O'Neill nodded, flicking the paper clip back onto the desk, "Yes, that is true, but I'm not sure we have much of a chance against him without her. Sure, our Carter can do the job as well, but she doesn't know as much as her future self. We don't have a lot of time, but we also have to be careful. He is trying to kill us, after all."

"So then what would you have me do?"

"Give us time and access, and make sure no one up top finds out about this. If they do, they'll want to question all of them, and especially take the technology they have. We can't let that happen, Sir. We have to do this on our own if we want this to work."

General Hammond sighed, "So I'm guessing that means no reports should be filed on this since that would give someone access to future information that they shouldn't have. Do you know how many rules I'm having to break here, Colonel?"

He nodded, "I think I do Sir, although I have a feeling I'll have a better feeling in the future." He paused. "I think you should trust them, Sir. She did save our lives, and they seem to be genuinely trying to keep the timeline safe. My future self has a much better idea of all of this. He might be able to help you if you need it. They're here to help and save lives."

General Hammond nodded thoughtfully in reply, "I'll think about it. They're still hiding information, though. I'm sure they are."

O'Neill stood then, "Only for good reasons, Sir. We know time can be tricky. They're just taking precautions. Anyways, after all of this, we'll forget this conversation ever happened." He flashed him a smile. "I should go find out what I can so we're prepared when we do need to leave again. May I…?" He gestured to the door.

The general waved him away, "Yes, go. I think I have the information I need."

O'Neill opened the door then paused and turned back, "If you want my opinion, General, then I would suggest you don't ask for too much information. The less you know, the less you'll be keeping from your superiors. I'd hate for you to have to take the downfall for this one."

General Hammond smiled in reply, "Thank you, Son. I'll keep that in mind."

* * *

Janet wasn't surprised when General O'Neill stuck around all night. The rest of the team popped in every once in a while, but he refused to leave her side. For people who didn't want anyone to know they're married, they sure were going about it the wrong way. She somehow doubted that the present day SG-1 would figure it out, especially not Colonel O'Neill and Sam.

She worked through the night on determining if the virus was still present, and to ensure no one else could be contaminated. She was grateful to find that her tests didn't show the virus present in herself or any of the nurses present when Sam was brought in. She wouldn't let anyone else see the Colonel until she was sure they couldn't get sick.

She was also worried about the infection that hadn't gotten worse, but also wasn't getting any better. Sam was still in pain, even if she masked it well. Janet simply knew her far too well. As did, General O'Neill it seemed since he continued to worry about her, despite her protests that she was absolutely fine.

She came in to do a couple tests, glad to see for once General O'Neill was asleep in his chair. It didn't look comfortable, but she didn't want to move him. Normally she would have kicked him out by now, but she had a feeling that wouldn't work with him. She moved quietly around the room, checking the charts and changing the bandages on her wound. Still it was infected, but it seemed it was a bit better. She'd check again tomorrow to see. She had a feeling Sam wouldn't let an infection stop her at this point. She was, unfortunately, needed on this mission.

She accidently knocked a tray, causing General O'Neill to stir. She winced and smiled apologetically when he opened his eyes and stared at her tiredly. He smiled when he saw her then looked to Sam worried, "How is she?"

She looked to the leg that she'd just dressed and covered, "It seems to be doing better, but I'm not sure. We'll have to see tomorrow. There really isn't much more I can do except wait for the anti-biotics to kick in so her leg can properly heal. Something tells me she won't want to stay here for long."

He shook his head with a soft chuckle, "No, as soon as Jacob is back, she'll want to help. She's started to fit into the role as a commander instead of the one who goes out, but I don't think it's something we can ever truly get used to."

"Oh? She's been in command? You make it sound like she was sending teams out there while having to sit back and wait for them to get home. She is only a Colonel, isn't she?" She inquired.

He nodded slowly, "She is a Colonel, yes, but there was a posting that put her in charge of a large group of people. The original person in charge was a civilian, but they wanted someone military and she fit all their criteria, well for a little while. She's back in the field now… of sorts."

"Ah, so she has been in that situation. I suppose just recently they were thinking of giving you an off-world position." She paused, remembering the circumstances that made that particular point rather sore. "Sorry, Sir."

He looked up in surprise and shook his head, "Ah, nothing to be sorry for. That was years ago, and I've been in command since. Besides, that was more part of an act than anything. I wouldn't give up SG-1 for anything. Eventually we split up, but we're still together in some ways." He looked down, and she couldn't help but remember the ring that was undoubtedly in his pocket, and perhaps a matching one on his own dog tags.

She nodded then thought over her next question. She figured it was safer to approach him than Colonel O'Neill at the moment. "Did you have much of a hard time after what you did? After the act?"

The General smiled and nodded, "You mean from my team? Yeah, they gave me some grief for it afterwards, but nothing I couldn't handle. I suppose Colonel O'Neill is dealing with that right now. That's actually why she got put in charge of the last mission." He nodded to Colonel Carter. "It was my call, but everyone agreed with it. The younger team trusted her more than Colonel O'Neill and myself. My Daniel and Teal'c of course trust her more than Colonel O'Neill so it was the right call to make. I just wish…" He sighed, looking back down to his hands in his lap.

"You wish she hadn't gotten hurt because of a decision you made. Or that you came to a time where they did trust Colonel O'Neill so you would have been the one hurt instead of her." She nodded in understanding. She supposed this could have been one of the worst times for a Goa'uld to travel too, and they all knew it, yet it wasn't expected that the Goa'uld would know that.

She continued, "Well I assure you that I will ensure she will be better as soon as she can be."

He smiled, almost sadly, but she wasn't sure why, "You always have, Doc."

She gave him a confused look before continuing, "Anyways, I think you need to go get some rest. You need to sleep better than in a chair. I promise I'll have someone come get you as soon as she wakes." He looked ready to protest but she held up a finger, "Ah, Doctor's orders. Now go."

He decided not to fight, standing up and walking towards her bed. He glanced to Doctor Fraiser, but decided he didn't care, even if Sam shot him later for this, and he kissed her on the forehead before he left the room to get some sleep wherever he could.


	12. Love and Friendship

General O'Neill was back by Sam's side a couple hours later, much to Doctor Fraiser's dismay. She had wanted him to get some proper rest, but apparently despite his apparent exhaustion, he refused. She could only imagine that as a General, somehow he managed to work harder than General Hammond, and that was saying something. She left him be since Sam woke up soon after he came back, and Daniel and Teal'c were visiting as well.

Sam opened her eyes and looked around, glad to see them all there, "Hey."

O'Neill grinned and nudged her leg playfully, "Hey there, sleeping beauty. How are you feeling?"

She made a bit of a face, blinking away the fatigue, "Better, I suppose. Leg kind of hurts. What's going on?"

Daniel shifted, wishing she would wait to ask about what was going on. She didn't need to be more stressed, but they should have known that Sam wouldn't wait to get down to business. "Nothing has really happened while you slept. We all got some rest, but otherwise we haven't done anything or heard of anything. We're just waiting for you to recover."

She gave them all a look, but turned it mostly on Jack. She didn't believe Daniel, and hoped Jack would be honest. He relented, "We need your help, Sam. This is a difficult mission, and while I'm sure we could manage; it will be better with you."

She tilted her head, "There is another me around here somewhere. You could get her help in whatever you need. You can do this without me. It's been done before. Besides, if you can't do it without me, then I have no chance of ever retiring."

"Hey now, you still have time to train up a little Brainiac." He patted her hand, "And then another team can go about saving the world. Some day we can all retire. Let's not worry about that right now. Jacob will get back when he can, and you need to make sure that leg heals. Who knows, maybe the next place won't be quite so adventurous."

She shot him a look, and he shrugged, "I think if anything the next place we go will be more dangerous than two Super Soldiers and a couple of traps. Besides, the longer we stay back here, the more danger there is to the timeline."

O'Neill tilted his head in a slight nod, "That is true, but if we don't stop him then he'll surely destroy the timeline. He has knowledge of the future. He could make his way up to System Lord, and we'd have no way to stop him. You know that as much as we do. We also know that it's dangerous to stay here, but we don't have a lot of choice here, Sam."

She sighed, slumping her shoulders, "I know, I just wish… It doesn't matter."

Teal'c rose an eyebrow at her, but they had an idea what she was going to say, so none of them asked the unspoken question. They didn't push either. Teal'c tactfully changed the subject, "Have you found out if the virus can infect others, Colonel Carter?"

She shrugged, "I've been sleeping for quite a while, and Janet hasn't let me see anything, so you tell me."

Just then, Janet came in, standing beside O'Neill, "And you needed the rest. Even if you were awake, I wouldn't have let you do anything. Nothing's changed." She received a frustrated look from Sam, but she ignored it, "From your last blood tests, the virus seems to have been neutralized by your system. There's no virus present in my system or any of the nurses. We got lucky, and so did all of you."

Daniel shrugged, "Well our younger selves were perhaps lucky, and you, but we all carry an immunity of sorts for this particular disease. We're just lucky the Goa'uld didn't figure out how to mutate the virus."

Jack waved him off, "They may be good at scavenging stuff, but they really aren't that smart. They steal the technology and then pretend it's their own. None of the technology he has, is his. He simply was the fastest to jump in when Ba'al left the scene."

"Well considering there weren't many Goa'uld left after Ba'al, he really didn't have a lot of competition. Most Goa'uld have gone into hiding." Daniel pointed out. "Sop'du just happened to be the best at scavenging."

"Yeah, yeah. The point is, lucky isn't the word we'd use. Just… tell me that the others can come in here. It would help if we could include Carter in the discussions." Jack looked to Janet for an answer.

She frowned at him, "There is no chance of infection, but she does need to rest. Her leg is still healing, and while the infection has died down now, I'd rather she not push herself." She gave Sam a look.

Sam simply shrugged in reply, "My leg will be fine, Janet. I've had worse, and we don't have a lot of time. If anything, I can sit here and work on something. My leg will be resting while I work. I'll be fine."

She sighed, staring at her for a moment, "Okay, but so long as I don't find you all sleeping here. I suppose this is a good place to get privacy for whatever you need to discuss. I will enforce a schedule though."

General O'Neill gave her a mock salute, "Yes Ma'am."

She narrowed her eyes at him then left the room to go work on something else. She was sure they'd like to talk alone.

Once she was out of the room, General O'Neill turned to Daniel and Teal'c, "Think you could go let the others know that if they want to come here, they can. If they have any information, this'll be the place to meet. And while you're out, get Carter's laptop. I believe we left it on the ship." He turned to look at her. "I'm sure she'd appreciate it."

She nodded happily, "Yes please. That'll give me something to do because to be honest, I'm not really tired anymore. Some people keep making me sleep." She shot General O'Neill a glare then turned a charming smile to Daniel and Teal'c.

Daniel leaned over to Teal'c, "She scares me sometimes."

Teal'c gave a small smile and replied with a somewhat amused voice, "Colonel Carter is formidable. Perhaps, you should be afraid, Daniel Jackson." Daniel made a choking noise while Sam started to laugh, holding her side.

She reached a hand towards Daniel, "Don't worry Daniel. I like you too much to do anything too scary."

Jack shook his head in amusement then made a shooing gesture towards the door, "Go on, you two. You have some work to do."

"Yeah, and what are you going to do, General? I thought you wanted to come along for another adventure." Daniel crossed his arms.

Jack rolled his eyes, "I'm keeping Sam company, of course. Now go on. You don't want Sam to be too bored now."

Teal'c started to pull Daniel out by his arm when he rolled his eyes back and started to argue again. This was going to go nowhere if they let them continue like this. Daniel still managed to get in a last word, "Just remember there are people watching you."

Sam laughed as they left the room. She turned to Jack with a bit of a reprimanding look, "You know it doesn't help that you antagonize him all the time."

"Ah, but it's so much fun, Carter. He's easy bait, and despite it, he's still my friend, so I see no reason to stop." She shook her head in disbelief so he changed the subject. "Are you sure you're not tired at all? You haven't slept all that much in the last week."

She nodded, a bit exasperated with his hovering, "I'm fine, Jack. I just slept for… how long did I sleep for?"

"Uh…" He looked to his watch. "About nine hours actually."

She gestured to the watch, "See, I'm fine. My leg is much better than it was, and it'll be fine before we know it. You worry too much."

He shrugged, "It's kind of a habit at this point. There isn't much to do all day except worry. I actually would have retired long before now if the job made it so I could worry less."

"If this is worrying less then I would hate to see what worrying more is." She looked him over and sighed. "Did you sleep here all night?"

"Now who's worrying?" He replied sarcastically. He continued when she gave him a reprimanding look, "Only until Doc sent me to get some proper rest in one of the rooms with an SF guarding me. I got some proper sleep, I promise."

She narrowed her eyes, trying to figure out if he was telling the truth or not, and she must have figured he was since she relaxed back into the pillows. "Alright, so brief me on what's been going on while I was asleep."

He shrugged, "Well, there was a bit of an argument where they wanted to go to that planet the Tok'ra suggested. We decided it was best to wait for Jacob, but I'm honestly not sure if they listened. They could be sending a MALP there now anyways. After all, Colonel O'Neill was called to see General Hammond. Really nothing much has happened. Yes, a lot can happen in nine hours, but it seems it's rather quiet for now."

She hummed in response, "I suppose I'm just expecting Sop'du to show up with a full on attack, but I suppose he doesn't have the ship capabilities or any of our iris codes, even if he is from the future."

"Unless the Tok'ra gave them to him for some reason, no, that would not be the case."

She looked at him in surprise then, "You think the Tok'ra would do that? Sir, they might not have been able to kill a Goa'uld, but they're not our enemies."

"Really? Are you sure about that? Because I'm beginning to doubt it. I have a bad feeling about all of this, and my bad feelings are rarely wrong."

She gave him a skeptical look, "They aren't always right. It could just be that this is a bad mission where something could go wrong. Something already has gone wrong."

His expression gentled as he looked at her leg where her wound was, "I still have a bad feeling, something worse than you getting hurt. Nothing about this mission feels right."

She held her hand out to him, glad when he took it without hesitation. She squeezed his hand, watching his expression slowly tense up. She wasn't going to convince him otherwise, and she supposed that if he was worried this much, he'd be more alert every moment they were here and off world. She'd already been hurt, so he wouldn't allow it to happen again. She was simply worried he would get hurt while he was at it.

He stared down at their joined hands for some time before he spoke, "I know you've said that we have to ensure that they live, no matter what, but I'm not losing you, in the past or present. I… can't…"

She furrowed her brow now. She hadn't realized how worried he'd been. As much as he'd been constantly around, she hadn't thought it had affected him that much. He was used to her getting hurt. "Jack, I'm not going anywhere." She paused, studying his face that he kept downcast. "Is this about more than this mission?"

"No." He still wouldn't look at her, but after a moment of silence he continued, "Not really, anyways. It's been so long that it shouldn't matter, but you do go out every day while I have to sit behind a desk and worry. Sure, I get reports on how you're doing, but it's not the same. At the same time, I got used to it. Now, I'm back in the field with you, watching your six, and I'm not entirely sure what to make of it. I can make sure you don't get hurt again, yet…" He gestured at her leg, still not looking at her.

She sighed "Jack… This wasn't your fault, and I'm fine. I've been injured before, many times, in fact. Sure, you've been worried then, but this is nothing new. Our relationship is new, but we still worry about each other. You think I'm not worried that you're back in the field? But we're officers and we have a duty first."

"And yet, that doesn't make it better, anymore." He shook his head then finally looked back up at her. He continued quietly, "I'm really starting to consider just walking away after this. There are new, younger people who can deal with this. Why do they have to continue dragging us back? I don't care if you're still too young, make you a General and let me retire. That way we'll both be safe, and we can both spend time together. I'm done with the long distance."

She looked at him worriedly, "Look, as much as I agree that this is hard, and it sucks, I'm not sure this is the best time to talk about this. You're emotional because I was hurt, and we have other things to do."

"What other things do we have to do, Carter?" He shouted louder than he meant, quieting down when the SF outside looked in, ready for a fight. He waved him off and quieted down. "What other time will we have to talk about this? To be honest, I really don't want to talk about this when we're supposed to be taking a break on vacation. Our vacation gets interrupted enough that I'd rather not fight on it."

She understood, but she didn't really like it. She didn't want to fight here, especially with people around who could walk in at any time. They tried their best not to argue, but they soon found it was good for them after so many years of her following his orders without much of an argument to follow usually. She squeezed his hand which was still in hers, "I know what you mean, but I don't know what you want me to say. I wish we didn't have a long distance relationship. It seems every time I might get closer they send me away again. I mean I worked a galaxy away. Can't get much farther than that. But I can take care of myself, and I am fine."

"I never said you couldn't take care of yourself. You think I don't know that? I know how strong you are, and I know you can handle it, but I also know that the universe is dangerous and anything could happen. Right now I have to worry about two of you, because if either of you are hurt… I'm done answering to the universe's beck and call. I want to have a life before either of our lives are over. I don't want a weekend here and there. I want…" He gestured vaguely with his free hand.

She furrowed her brow in worry then tugged gently on his hand, "C'mere."

That brought a smile to his face as he did as he was told, wrapping her in a hug, "I thought that was my line."

"Well, you need it more than I do at the moment." She replied softly, emphasizing it with a kiss to his neck. The hug was awkward with one of their hands still clasped together and one of her hands with an IV sticking in it, but they managed. He hugged her until his back started to complain, so he pulled back, but she didn't let him go far, pulling him back to kiss him.

He groaned, finally letting go of her hand to bring it up to her cheek. They kissed deeply, until Jack pulled away, smiling at the deep breaths she took in. He kept his lips near hers, smirking down at her. She smiled back at him then brought him back for another quick kiss before letting him go. "At least we have that."

He hummed in agreement, still not moving far from her, "Ah, but we could have that more often. Doesn't that sound just perfect?"

She agreed carefully, "As wonderful as that sounds, I don't think that's a good idea to talk about right now. We do have a job at the moment, and we can't just run away right now. I don't think Teal'c and Daniel would appreciate being left in the past, and if our younger selves die then we die too and we never get this."

He sighed, planting a kiss to her forehead, "Why are you always right?" She just grinned in reply. While they were smiling at each other, they heard someone clear their throat from behind O'Neill. He turned quickly, quite surprised to see a younger Teal'c standing there. Sam ran a hand through her hair and smiled at him as Jack asked, "Hey, Teal'c. How long have you been standing there?"

Teal'c opted not to answer the question and instead said, "I am here to inform you that Colonel O'Neill wishes to speak with you. He is in his office."

Jack frowned, "Why doesn't he just come here then?" He wasn't sure he liked the avoidance of his question, but he knew better than to try to get information out of Teal'c. If he knew anything, he likely wouldn't tell anyone else.

"He wishes to speak only to you, not Colonel Carter, therefore, he would like you to go to him, General O'Neill." Teal'c said it with enough authority to ensure there was no room for interpretation on whether or not it was a request.

General O'Neill nodded to him, turning briefly back to Sam so he could squeeze her hand then walked to the door, "Why don't you keep her company until our Daniel and Teal'c return. I'm sure she'd appreciate it, unless you have something else to do?"

Teal'c bowed to him, "I do not, and I would be pleased to keep Colonel Carter company." General O'Neill nodded in thanks then headed off to his old office that he'd never really used.

Colonel Carter gestured to the chair beside her bed, "Well, if you're here to keep me company, I demand to be entertained." He rose an eyebrow in response and she smiled teasingly. "I'm kidding. Take a seat. I have one question though. How much did you really see?"

He took his seat in the chair and thought for a moment before answering, "I am happy for you both, Colonel Carter. You seem happy."

She smiled at the response and nodded, "I am happy. I really am. He's a wonderful man, and I have wonderful friends as well." She reached over to nudge him playfully.

He nodded and responded with a happier tone to his voice, "That is good. I wouldn't want either of you to be unhappy. I will not tell the others if you wish me not to."

"How very observant of you." She toned down the teasing to reply gratefully, "I'm sure we're not exactly being subtle about it, but things have been hard recently so…" She gestured vaguely then shrugged, wincing when she managed to pull at her leg.

"Shall I retrieve Doctor Fraiser for you?" He hurriedly asked, obviously not missing the wince.

She shook her head quickly, "No, it's fine, just a little stitch is all. Don't worry about it. All I'm saying is that I'd rather you didn't tell the others, but there's a chance they'll find out like you did. I'm not sure which would be better."

"I believe Colonel O'Neill and Major Carter would be most surprised. I am glad that you finally were able to… find your way to each other."

She smiled, "Thank you, Teal'c. That is rather sweet of you."

He nodded his head and they fell into a calm silence. She laid back and stared at the ceiling for some time before she heard his deep voice again, "I am sorry, Colonel Carter. I was supposed to keep you company and yet I have not entertained."

She waved him off, "I was kidding, Teal'c. You don't have to do anything you don't want to. I'm quite enjoying the silence actually. Anyways, I'm sure my Daniel and Teal'c will be here soon enough with something more for me to do so I can feel productive."

"You have been most productive Colonel Carter. You ensured that we all came back safely while you were the one injured. There is not much any of us can do at the moment, so do not fear that you are not productive."

She was amazed at the praise coming from him. She might expect something from her Teal'c who had grown to be a good friend and comrade over the years, but she hadn't really expected it from him. It was good to know that they trusted her, "Thank you, Teal'c. That means a lot to me."

* * *

General O'Neill entered the office, finding Colonel O'Neill spinning around in a chair with a report or memo of some sort in his hands. He entered with skeptical eyes, clearing his throat when the younger one didn't notice him. Colonel O'Neill spun around and placed the paper on the desk. General O'Neill now recognized it as a report, "What's this?"

The Colonel nodded, "I haven't given it to anyone, and I won't, but I thought you should know. We did send a MALP to that address after I was ordered to find the address. I got it from your Daniel and we checked it out. You were right. There's nothing there. It was a stopping ground."

General O'Neill nodded slowly then picked up the report from the table. He flipped through, "This is your mission report with added notes at the end about the MALP. What is this?"

"It's a report of all we've done. I don't plan to give it to Hammond or anyone else, but I was ordered to do it so I did. Seems Hammond can't keep the higher ups from knocking at the door completely."

The General frowned, looking through it again before tossing it on the desk, "I have some experience dealing with them. It isn't pretty, but we can't let them see any of that. If there's an official record that we were here then we will be changing history. I suppose someday they might have me write that up anyways."

Colonel O'Neill smirked deceitfully, "Exactly. If I write this up as I've been ordered to keep track of the events here in some way, then I figure I could hand this to you and that could be the report. You are a General. I'm sure you could find a way to sweep this under the rug."

General O'Neill shrugged, now sitting in the chair opposite his younger self, "I can. It's not easy exactly, but I can. I'm sure Sam will ensure that this is once this is all over. Why are you doing this?"

Colonel O'Neill shrugged, "Because Carter got hurt on the last mission, and it shouldn't have happened. Because we haven't given you enough trust, but so far you've been right at every turn. I didn't give you the credit you deserve. This is me saying that I trust you now, and informing you that there is nothing at the address you were given. If this is going to work, we need to work as one team. I agree that Colonel Carter is the best suited to lead that team, but while she is out of commission, perhaps you can take that on. Your team trusts you… Carter trusts you." The last part he said quieter.

General O'Neill opened his mouth to reply then paused and took in his younger self. There was something to that last quieter part of his statement. Then he remembered. It had been rough after he'd gone undercover. He'd said some things that had hurt his team, especially Sam. She'd forgiven him eventually, and not too many months from now she admits that she does in fact care for him, but it didn't change that this Colonel now was going through a rough spot with his team. He encouraged, "It gets better, you know. You don't have to be in the dog house forever. They will trust you again, just give them time. Someday you'll do incredible things, and then you'll see your team go off to do incredible things without you, and you'll never be more proud of them."

Colonel O'Neill tapped his fingers on the desk, keeping his eyes trained down, "I suppose you've lived through it, and perhaps had to do similar things. You have to keep going, for their sakes, and for ours."

General O'Neill nodded, "I'm glad you understand. Now, thank you for this. I'm sure it wasn't easy to swallow your pride and admit you're wrong, but are you sure you want me in charge? I have a feeling if anyone, you won't listen to me well."

Colonel O'Neill shrugged, a sly smile coming to his lips, "Ah, probably not, but I'll do my best not to argue too much. Just don't get my team hurt and we should be fine."

"That's why I'm here."

General O'Neill gestured to the folder, "Put that somewhere no one will find it, like lock it in Carter's lab. I won't make you keep writing it, but if Hammond says you have to then do, but I would appreciate it if you'd give it to us in the end or burn it. Either works."

Colonel O'Neill nodded, "Yeah, one of those. I suppose we should inform the others of what we've learned. I hope Jacob is back soon."

"Ah, you know those Tok'ra. They like to take their time when the universe is falling apart around them." The General scoffed, a layer of annoyance in his voice.

"Oh, don't I know it." Colonel O'Neill picked up the folder as General O'Neill led the way out.


	13. Irritation

Colonel and General O'Neill both came to Colonel Carter's room to find Daniel and Teal'c teasing her while she tried to convince them that she would be good with the computer and wouldn't work too hard. General O'Neill smiled then turned to his younger self, "I'll inform them. You should go tell your team, and we'll meet here when Jacob gets back."

His younger self nodded, turning quickly and leaving to find his team which were likely scattered in their labs throughout the base. General O'Neill turned back to his ex-team and grinned. He walked up to a pouting Carter while Daniel grinned teasingly at her, "Daniel, what have we said about teasing Carter. She can and will get you back later."

Daniel shrugged, "It's too much fun, besides, she doesn't mind since she's being entertained by our presence."

"More like annoyed by their presence." She muttered under her breath, gaining an amused look from Jack. He grabbed a stool and came to sit by her bed, opposite Daniel and Teal'c.

"Give her the computer, Daniel." He commanded, ignoring Daniel's insubordinate roll of his eyes. "Besides, I have some information to tell you that I'm sure you'll all want to hear."

Daniel handed the computer over, even sticking his tongue out at Sam's preening look. They were like kids sometimes, but then again, so was he. He shook his head in amusement then started to explain, "So as it turns out they didn't listen to us and sent a MALP to that address the Tok'ra gave us. To be fair it was an order from Hammond, but luckily nothing happened. There was nothing there like we thought might be possible."

Daniel nodded, "So he only used that address to get back in time, as we thought. He likely travelled somewhere more secure and convenient quickly after. So we are waiting on Jacob's information then. You'd think if they're sending us back to save time they would have gathered all the information they could."

"Well, they didn't have a lot of time." Carter pointed out. "We needed to get here quickly which meant little information besides the time, and a possible place, which obviously didn't work."

Jack agreed readily, "You're right, of course, doesn't change things, though. We're here and we have to be careful. Hopefully Jacob will be back soon, and perhaps this time it'll give us something to help, or maybe even a dead Goa'uld."

Colonel Carter shrugged, looking a little defeated, making quite the difference from her bright smile from a moment ago. "If Dad comes back soon then you'll have to go without me, you know. I'm not saying that won't be a bad thing, but I'd rather come with you."

General O'Neill looked down at her injured leg, "I'm sure you'll be fine, Sam. Janet says your infection is coming down, and I'm sure you'll be back on your feet soon enough."

She sighed, "If this were any other situation, I wouldn't be allowed to go on a mission for at least a week, Sir."

"That is true, but this isn't a normal circumstance, and knowing you, you want to get out of here sooner rather than later. I'm sure we can convince Doctor Fraiser to let you go when Jacob gets back. So long as you can walk." He looked at her questioningly, suddenly realizing that he wasn't sure that she could.

"I can walk, just not well. Actually I haven't really tried, so that is the question, I suppose. I'm not sure Janet would much appreciate you making me walk now. It could make things worse." She exclaimed in exasperation. She understood why he was pushing her, but she was getting frustrated with all of this. "In any other situation, this wouldn't even be a discussion. You'd order me to stay in bed until I was better."

He nodded from side to side, narrowing his eyes, "Like I already said, this isn't any other situation, Carter, and we might need you out there. I'm not fond of the idea of leaving you alone in the past. You probably have just as much chance of being hurt here as you do with us on the ship. There's no doubt I'll be in charge of the next mission, but I'd rather have you not be here."

"And I'm telling you that I'd be a liability out there. The most I could do is stay on the ship and guide you in whatever way I can, but you'd still need to be in charge. I'd be useless and I might as well stay here." She gestured wildly then crossed her arms.

Daniel stood up and stepped closer to the bed, holding his hand out, "Okay, wait. Please stop fighting. I feel like this is Mom and Dad fighting all over again, just stop. Sam's right. She's more likely to get someone else hurt in her condition so we go with her idea if she's up to it. If Jacob comes back before she's ready and we can't convince him to heal her leg faster, then we all go, but we leave her on the ship. She can help us from there." The sour looks turned to him, but they didn't faze him. He was used to Jack glaring at him all the time, or at least looking annoyed.

Jack added, despite the chances of Carter getting angrier with him and his own irritation, "And even if Jacob does heal her leg, she's staying on that ship." He was surprised when he only got a glare and wasn't hit as well. Almost more than she would hate staying here and doing nothing, she'd hate being out there and being unable to do anything. "Look, Carter, we're going to need your help out there, and this will actually go a lot better if you're on that ship. I know this sucks, but I'm not willing to leave you here as much as I trust Doctor Fraiser. I'm only saying you should go to stay on the ship. That's all."

Daniel gestured with a slightly confused look on his face, "See, now you're agreeing. You'll come, but you'll stay on the ship. Both of you get what you want, even if this seems a little backwards to me." He glanced between them. "Once we deal with Sopdu, Doctor Lam can take a proper look at your leg. Maybe Vala could finish healing whatever Jacob can't do."

Jack nodded, looking to Sam who thought for a moment before agreeing reluctantly. He wasn't ordering her to, but he might as well have. He wanted to keep her close, and really she'd probably be safer on that ship than she was in the base without them. He smiled when she agreed, "Alright, then that's the plan, even if I know you'll argue with me once we get out there." He shot her a smug grin which she tried to scowl out, but ended up smiling herself. They were all irritated at the situation and wanted to be home already, but they could find a moment of joy together. It was all that kept them from ripping each other apart in their irritation.

"What do we do while we wait?" Daniel asked. They couldn't do anything here while they waited without messing up the timeline, and they were royally messing up in their ability not to tell their past selves anything. It was a good thing Sam had finished that device, although finishing a device would give them something to do.

Sam opened her laptop then, "We learn what we can from the information we have, and we prepare for a fight. It won't be as bad as the Ori because he won't have the power of the Ori, but he will be powerful, and we're going to need to be prepared. Luckily, we have our fair share of ancient technology." She spun her laptop towards Daniel after opening a couple programs. "Let's figure out what we can."

Her laptop had much of Daniel's research on it, which meant the pictures they'd taken in the temple could be translated and used. Perhaps there was no information, but perhaps there was. "This is brilliant. When did you get all of this?"

She shrugged with an excited smile, "In my spare time, especially right after I got fired. I figured having a back-up of your research could come in handy. It's not like it's simple to carry your books everywhere. Now get to work." She looked to Jack who had a faint smile playing as he watched Daniel happily take her laptop to go find the pictures they had of that temple. "I know there's no point since we don't know what to expect, but let's make a plan of attack. It'll at least keep us from going crazy."

He smirked, glancing at where Daniel and Teal'c were leaving with her laptop, "Oh, I think you've already gone crazy. You just let Daniel take your laptop and walk out of here. Usually that would be your only lifeline to sanity in this place."

She tilted her head with a playful smile, "That's what you're for."

He chuckled, sitting back down on the stool, "Alright, let's plan." Which is what they did until Sam's eyes started to droop, either because she was actually tired or Doctor Fraiser had given her something to help her sleep. "If we took them by surprise at the rings, taking out whatever Super Soldiers and Jaffa are present then we can ring aboard the ship and…" He smiled and rose an eyebrow at her when she yawned. "Oh come on, it wasn't that boring, was it?"

She looked up in surprise then shook her head quickly, "Oh no. No it was very interesting. It's a great idea, and the drawings are great." He had managed to convince An SF to get him a small white board and markers where he drew out the plan. It helped them, or at least helped make her laugh.

His smile turned softer and he put the white board and marker down, "You're tired. I should let you sleep."

She shook her head, but it came out tiredly, "No, I want to keep you company."

"And here I thought I was keeping you company. Look, you need your rest. Jacob could be back at any time, and if you do come, I want you to be at your best. I can go see what everyone else is up to. Get some sleep." He nodded to her. "If you don't, I'm sure Doctor Fraiser would be happy to help you." She rolled her eyes, but then closed her eyes tiredly. He leaned down and kissed her forehead. "It'll be fine. We can do this."

She hummed in agreement, but it seemed she had been fighting sleep for some time. Maybe his lectures did put her to sleep. Well, it was only fair.

General O'Neill checked on the others, finding that their younger selves were finding more to do than they were. None of them were used to not being able to do anything during a mission. He was ready to go out there, and get things done. Luckily, Jacob did finally show up some hours later after he'd stolen Daniel's bouncy ball and started to take shots in the room Daniel and Teal'c had been working in.

Jacob walked in, looking around the room at them then gestured for them to come, "Seems I've come right on time. We need to go quickly. George is sending a MALP now. He wants you all ready to go. Is Sam…?"

General O'Neill winced, "She was sleeping last I saw, but I doubt she'd appreciate getting left behind. We'll get ready, you go talk to her. Maybe you and Selmak can help her heal up a bit more. We think it would be best for her to come with us, but maybe you can convince her that she definitely needs to stay on the ship."

Jacob frowned. "Alright." He gestured for them all to get going. They gathered there things and hurried out of the room while he headed to the infirmary. She couldn't really do anything if they decided to leave her behind.

Jacob strolled into her infirmary room to find she was asleep although she stirred at the noise of him coming up beside her bed. She groaned and opened her eyes, staring at him in confusion for a moment, "Dad?"

He smiled, "Hey kiddo. How're you feeling?"

She closed her eyes for a moment then opened them, seeming more awake when she did, "Fine, little sore, but fine. What's going on? You're back."

He nodded, "I am back, and we're heading out, but I think you should stay here. You're in no condition to go out like this."

She shook her head, wincing at the headache it brought, but she fought through it, "No, I can help. I'm not going to stay here while my team go out there. Not now, not here."

He frowned, "Sam, you're in no condition to go anywhere. Your leg is healing. You shouldn't go out."

She gave him a determined look, "Then help heal it, and if it still isn't enough then I'll stay on the ship, but you have to let me go."

Over the year he'd been a part of all of this, he had never seen Sam more determined to go on a mission. Her team sometimes went through without her, and while he'd heard that she'd worked hard to get O'Neill back, she still sometimes stayed behind or left without them. "Sam… We can do this without you. You don't have to push yourself. Are you trying to prove yourself? What are you trying to do? Because at this rate it'll just get you killed." He frowned, "Jack seems to think you should just stay on the ship, although I don't know why."

"Jack wants to keep me close, is all." She muttered then demanded, "I proved myself a long time ago, but I won't leave my friends to go off and do this mission without me. I can't. Please, use a healing device if you don't think I can do this, but I am going with you."

He sighed then turned towards the vault he knew had a healing device, quickly grabbing it then came over to her. She'd managed to sit up in that time, looking at him expectantly. He didn't know why he was doing this, but something in her conviction made him, and if General O'Neill thought it was a good idea, then there had to be some reason for it. She was probably going to find a way to come if they let her or not. He held his hand over her injured leg, activating the device for a full minute before he stopped.

She looked more awake now, moving to check on her leg as Doctor Fraiser came into the room to check on her. She checked the leg herself to see it was mostly healed, and the infection had in fact gone down, "Well, I suppose if your leg is fine I have no reason to keep you here. You're good to go." Janet said after removing the IV and ensuring everything else was good to go. She looked worried, but she also knew she had no reason to keep her there.

Sam smiled, pushing herself up and gently landing off the bed. She stumbled a bit after lying most of the day and only getting up a couple times, but it seemed she was doing better. She supposed normally she would have been kept for longer, but they had to go. "I'll get dressed and meet everyone at the jumper." She nodded for her father to go, and he hurried out of the room after handing the healing device back to Doctor Fraiser.

Once Sam was ready, Janet came up to her hesitantly, "Look, I know I'm technically not your Doctor, and you're barely listening to me as it is, but stay safe out there, okay? You have a lot of people worrying about you, even if you're in the wrong time. I'll patch you up if I have to, but you know I'd rather you come home safely."

Colonel Carter smiled, gently putting a hand on her shoulder. She'd been trying so hard to keep her distance that she'd probably seemed ungrateful, "I will try my best. Thank you, Janet. We'll be back, and we're not leaving anyone behind." She looked into her eyes with a reassuring, yet determined look.

For the first time since Janet had met these people from the future, she saw the raw pain in her eyes. This Sam had lost a lot, but she'd survived through it all. She was a fighter, even through the worst of pain. Janet was simply glad to know she still had her team by her side when she needed them and apparently a husband. Speaking of, "By the way, General O'Neill has something of yours that you may want back. Now go, I shouldn't keep you any longer or you'll be late."

Sam nodded, quickly changing before she hurried to suit up then to the jumper. She felt a small pain in her leg every once in a while, but she was sure she'd be fine. She walked up to the ship, glad to see it was still here with General O'Neill leaning against the outside with his arms crossed. Well that meant they weren't leaving without her. "Hey."

He frowned at her, looking her over, likely looking for any sign of a limp, "Are you sure, Carter? I know what I said before, and Jacob said it's mostly healed, but—"

She shook her head, a determined look in her eyes, "No, I need to do this. I won't let you go out there without me. If I stay here then I'm useless and I can't help you. I can help you if I'm out there, even if I stay in the ship, but now that I'm healed I can help as much as I normally do."

Again, his eyes roved over her form in a familiar gesture. It wasn't the look men normally gave her, but one of a superior officer checking her over for injuries or anything. He often did it when she came home, always worried that something was wrong, "Are you healed? That was a bad wound in your leg."

"I've had worse, Sir." She was starting to get frustrated again. This conversation was starting to get more personal than she normally liked when they were on a mission. They'd agreed that they wouldn't do that. "I'll be fine. We have a Goa'uld to catch if we ever want to go home."

He nodded, "We do, but we have to survive so we can go home in the first place." Finally he relented. "Alright, let's go then."

"I'll be more careful this time, if that makes you feel any better."

"It doesn't. You're always careful, Carter. It's the things you can't be careful for that make this hard." He turned to head into the ship, but she grabbed his arm gently, glad no one had come to check on them. Perhaps Daniel and Teal'c were keeping them busy. She quickly let go when he turned back with a raised eyebrow.

"You have to stay safe too, but that means you have to concentrate. We promised this wouldn't affect the job."

He sighed, his face becoming guarded, "We did, but that's much easier in practice. We'll do our best, but I'm not losing you out there."

"Let's not lose anyone out there." He nodded in agreement then led her into the ship. He went right up to his chair, taking his seat as everyone looked between them.

Sam took a seat that Daniel quickly vacated for her. He touched her arm gently and gave her a look before asking, "Everything okay?" She nodded in reply then took her seat as the back hatch closed as they took off.


	14. Infiltration

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the last chapter I actually editted because I couldn't bring myself to edit the last couple. Too much going on in life. I still like them though.

They were fairly surprised when nothing went wrong as soon as they got to the other planet. Perhaps they shouldn't have assumed that, but it was hard not to when they were informed about just how many defenses and weaponry were present on the other side. None of it noticed an invisible ship flying through the Stargate or overhead. Seemed Sopdu hadn't accounted for invisible ships.

Colonel Carter was looking over the information of the land when she informed them, "There's weapons everywhere. The Tok'ra said it was heavily guarded, but I didn't think they said it was this bad."

Jacob replied with a shake of his head, "No, it wasn't. He must have upped the guard. For a minor Goa'uld, this place is definitely too heavily guarded. He shouldn't have this much technology."

Colonel Carter growled in annoyance, "I was worried about that. I hate to say it, but by blowing up the temple, we may have tipped our hand. He knows someone from the future is here to stop him. He might not realize it's us, but he knows that something is going on. No one else could have destroyed that, and killed his Super Soldiers. Another Goa'uld might have blown it from orbit, but that's unlikely."

General O'Neill scanned the area with a frown, "Okay, so where do I land? They aren't seeing us, but we still need to try our best to sneak in. If they catch us, we're in trouble."

Colonel Carter nodded, bringing up the ships scans with a frown. The place was swarming with weapons, and where there weren't weapons there were Super Soldiers and Jaffa. She pointed to a group of trees by some hills that would give them cover, "Over there should be good, I think. The trees should give us cover, and there's rocks or trees all the way to the temple. We can take out any weapons, Jaffa or otherwise on the way."

Colonel O'Neill pipped up from the back, sounding a bit annoyed, "Doesn't this ship have any weapons? You'd think that would be an important thing to have on a ship that you take on a mission. Can't be just shoot at them from here?"

Colonel Carter tried her best to keep her face neutral as she turned to him, "It did, at one point, but we've been unable to get them to work again, but even if we could, that's a bad idea. We could take out the weapons, but we have no idea if Sopdu is in that temple or not. We need to ensure he dies, not just a maybe he died in an explosion sort of thing. We've had far too many Goa'uld escape and live because we assumed they were dead."

Colonel O'Neill frowned and made a face at that, "That's not what I was saying. I meant more along the lines of, why don't we use the ship to blow up all the guns so we can get into the temple. That part is going to be hard enough as it is."

General O'Neill nodded towards him with a worried look to Carter, "He has a point. We don't have that ability, but it would make things easier. Why did the egg-heads at Area 51 never rig this with some sort of weapon?"

She shrugged, "There didn't seem to be a point to it. We have other jumpers that were good for that sort of thing, they just don't travel back in time. For now, this is what we have."

General O'Neill nodded, "Right, so let's stop talking about what we don't have and discuss what we do have. Any ideas on how to take out those weapons so we can get into the temple?"

Major Carter moved up front, pointing to the forest they were quickly approaching, "Like… she said, we use the forest as coverage, and then once we're close to the temple we should be able to zat any weapons that can get us. Any Jaffa or Super Soldiers can be shot. There seems to be plenty of cover so we can ensure a safe route in. Besides, if I'm reading this right, it looks like behind the temple is a bit of a blind spot for many of the weapons."

General O'Neill nodded in agreement, "Which means it would help if we had someone back here directing us." He turned to Colonel Carter and rose his eyebrow. She started to shake her head but he held up a finger, still flying as he did so, "Ah, we need someone on the ground. Your leg still isn't in top condition which means I want you here directing us." He tapped his ear with the same finger he'd held up. "Keep us out of enemy site, and see if you can get schematics for that temple. We need to get in and out without anyone getting hurt this time. Think you can do that?"

She paused then nodded, "Yes, Sir." She didn't sound happy, but it was an order, and she knew better than to try and fight him on this one. Sometimes he would allow this, but his voice indicated there was no room for compromise. She was staying here, and if she left, there would be hell.

She slumped into her chair, still watching to ensure he landed in the right place, and they didn't crash land, but she looked a little dejected. She supposed she should be glad he let her come along at all, and she had known this was likely what would happen if she did come along, but she still hoped. Now that he'd called her out on her leg still being hurt she rubbed at the spot with a sigh. Well, this way she could ensure no one was hurt this time.

Once they landed, she got right to work on hopefully finding a way to break into the Goa'uld systems from the ship, while everyone else grabbed weapons and fit ear pieces in so she could talk to them without anyone else hearing. The younger group looked confused at the new, clearly Earth technology, but didn't ask any questions.

She had some limited Asgard and Ancient technology that would hopefully help her. The ship had at least picked up on all the blind spots outside, but it didn't know what was inside. She looked up when the hatch opened and they all started to file out. Her younger self looked like she wanted to say something but thought better, instead walking out of the ship.

Everyone gathered outside the ship except General O'Neill who hovered back. Their Daniel paused, looking between them, but he quickly decided he didn't want to get in the middle of it. He'd been around them for a long time, but sometimes it was best to simply let them talk it out. Instead he gestured outside, "We'll be waiting outside, Jack."

O'Neill nodded, watching him leave before he turned to Colonel Carter who was already working. From the look on her face, though, he could tell she wasn't happy, "I know you were the one telling me you'd be a liability, but I also know you hoped you might be able to come with us. You'll help the most from here. We can handle this."

"I know." She did her best not to sound too short with him. They may be married, but she could still be insubordinate, especially in tone, even if she knew he was right.

He chuckled at her tone, deciding not to call her out on it since her face scrunched in a way that told him she knew what that had sounded like. He crouched down so he was at her level, waiting until she finally turned away from the computer towards him. He assured gently, "We'll be fine. I know you don't like sending teams or friends out there while you sit back, but you're not completely sitting back. Besides, if anything I know what that feels like. I sent you out far more times than I would have liked, but it was the job, and we had to do it. Now I'm counting on you."

"I'm less upset about sending teams out there than I am about sending you out there." Her expression gentled, and she glanced to the back to see that no one was watching them. She leaned forward to give him a quick kiss then nodded for him to go, "Go kick some Goa'uld ass for me."

He grinned, glad to see he'd managed to make it a little bit better, "Yes, Ma'am." He gave her a mock salute then got up to head to the back, turning back just before he exited. "And you have flown one of these before, right?"

"Briefly, Sir, but yes Sir. I had the ATA gene therapy and have managed to fly one, so if you need…"

He nodded gratefully, "Yeah, that's all I need to know." With that he turned to the rest of the team, ready to head out.

As they were heading from the small clearing to the trees, the hatch on the jumper closed, making it impossible to see or find unless you bumped right into it which was unlikely from what they knew.

Colonel Carter relayed through the radio, "Keep heading due east. There's another clearing up ahead and to your right that you want to avoid. There seems to be some sort of aerial scan, but it can't reach you from within the trees. We'll have to watch out for that when you leave the trees."

General O'Neill nodded in reply, gesturing for the others to follow, keeping quiet in case sound was something the scan could pick up was in the forest. They wanted to surprise the Jaffa, not the other way around.

As they were moving along, suddenly Colonel Carter quickly stopped them with a quick command, "Wait, stop. There's something ahead. I think some Jaffa can see into the forest from there. Either go deeper in or take them out now."

General O'Neill looked back at Colonel O'Neill who nodded. They both gestured for the rest of the teams and Jacob to stay behind and stay down. They both walked in a crouch until they could see what looked to be one entrance to the temple, but Sam had informed them that this one was too well guarded for them to enter. They could take out two Jaffa from here though.

They both aimed at each Jaffa, carefully aiming where they knew it would hit and kill. So far the Jaffa hadn't seen them. General O'Neill aimed and shot at one Jaffa, causing the other to turn in surprise before he was also shot. The shots took them down, and luckily didn't alert any of the weapons systems. Colonel Carter congratulated them, "Great, they're down. The ship isn't picking up their life signature anymore. You can keep moving. The next entrance is coming up, and that one should be easier to enter without alerting any systems or getting shot at."

General O'Neill replied shortly, "Got it, thanks." They both nodded to each other with respect and understanding. They headed back to the group, gesturing for them to keep down but continue to follow along the forest. After a few minutes they were in position outside a door that would lead into the temple. General O'Neill asked, "Now what, Carter?"

She looked over all the schematics the ship had, trying her best to understand it. She'd spent time in the city of the Ancients, but the ships were still difficult to figure out, even interfaced with her computer, "Okay, there are two Super Soldiers or Jaffa patrolling the area. You'll have to take them out first before you can worry about the automated weapons. One is about ten degrees north of your position, and the other ten degrees west. They should cross your position soon."

General O'Neill nodded to Teal'c who had the other Super Soldier modification in his weapon. He came forward and crouched down, readying to shoot when the Super Soldiers crossed their view. General O'Neill also gestured for Colonel O'Neill and Major Carter to be ready to shoot in case it was Jaffa instead of Super Soldiers. Whatever it was, they would take them out.

What walked out was one Super Soldier who looked towards their position. Before it could even raise its arm to shoot, it was shot and downed. The second one ran over to investigate, getting shot quickly itself. What they hadn't expected was a Jaffa to run out from another direction, noticing the downed Super Soldiers. He was quickly shot, and luckily that was the end of the guards that could notice them, but the bodies might catch someone's attention. They needed to get going.

General O'Neill lowered his gun slowly, still wary of anything else that may appear. He started talking quickly into the radio, "You forgot to mention the third one there, Carter."

She winced, "Sorry, Sir." She looked over the schematics and let out a tired breath. This was going to be hard. "Alright, I'm going to try to shut down what I can, but you're going to have to be careful going in. This has the least defense now, but there is still weapons waiting. You're going to have to do exactly what I say."

General O'Neill nodded even though she couldn't see it, "Alright, direct the way, Carter."

She worked over the schematics. There wasn't much of a blind spot, but there was some left by the now dead Super Soldiers and Jaffa. There was a chance they could take out some of these weapons, but not all of them. "You need to keep to the left of the entrance for 5 metres then there will be a weapon you should be able to see from there. Take care of it then I'll tell you where to go next."

They did as she instructed, keeping to a single file line with General O'Neill in front. He crouched down after about five metres or until Carter told him to stop. He looked around, "Carter, I don't see it."

She frowned, trying to figure out if he was too far, but if he moved up too much farther then one of the weapons would see him, "Alright, move a little closer, it should be on the left, facing to the right, but you don't have a lot of room before another weapon will see you. Just… be careful."

He made a noise in frustration then gestured for the rest to stay put. Colonel O'Neill looked ready to protest, but he gave him a look which amazingly enough, silenced him. He slowly inched forward, looking for any sign of a weapon to shoot, but also one that could possibly see him. Maybe he could shoot first.

Finally, he saw the weapon she was talking about, but unfortunately he also saw the other one which meant it could see him. He rolled backwards as an energy weapon shot at him. He was getting far too old for this. He groaned then tapped his radio, "Carter, I can't get to it without that other one seeing me. You sure about this?"

She winced, looking over it. It hadn't looked like that from what she could see, but she believed him, "You're going to have to do your best. Perhaps if one of you shoots at one and one at the other? It'll be tricky, but there isn't another option. This is the best way in according to the ship's sensors."

He huffed out a sigh, thinking quickly, then gestured for Teal'c to come up with him. He was in no way going to risk the younger team on this mission. He was sure Teal'c could manage. Teal'c crawled forward and nodded, having heard the conversation. He held up his zat, nodding. Teal'c aimed at the one that could see them, having seen where it had shot from while O'Neill inched forward and to the right to shoot the one he was supposed to take out. Miraculously Teal'c was able to shoot quick enough to keep him from being shot at.

He breathed out a sigh of relief, quickly informing Colonel Carter that they were fine. He could hear a sigh of relief when she replied, "Glad to hear it, Sir. Now that you've taken both of those out, this should be much easier. Still be careful, but I believe I can get you in from here. Feel free to shoot any weapons you do spot though."

The rest of the team came up behind him, this time Colonel O'Neill speaking, sounding a bit disgruntled, "You sure you won't get us shot at? That's two things you've missed, Colonel." He ignored the glare he got from his older self.

Colonel Carter bristled a bit, immediately recognizing the comment as coming from Colonel O'Neill. General O'Neill knew better than to say anything after all these years, and normally his younger self would too. She didn't rise too much to the bait, but still defended herself, "If you'd like to come and figure out how to understand what this ship is telling me, then be my guest. I understand what I'm looking at better, and I will do my best to keep you out of danger." She calmed the iciness slightly to continue. "I advise that you keep on your guard though."

"Copied." General O'Neill tapped the radio with a frown then gestured for them to keep moving forward. He assumed she could warn them if they were about to run into anything, but like she said, they had to keep their guard up. The group moved forward, and General O'Neill was starting to be glad he'd left Carter behind for the reason of a small group. The eight of them were already far too large of a group. Besides she could help them navigate a large group. This was why any more than five to an SG team was a bad idea, especially for missions like this.

Carter directed them around one weapon, allowing them to shoot as they saw, finding no trouble as they moved to the entrance. Once at the entrance they tried to open the door by pressing the button, but it wouldn't work. General O'Neill frowned and turned to Daniel who tried as well, but again, nothing and there was no writing. He contacted Colonel Carter with a frown, "Carter…"

"Yeah, I'm getting to it. Just give me a second." She started to work away while Jacob moved forward, looking it over.

"Let me take a look at it." He offered, gesturing to the door. General O'Neill grunted in acknowledgment while Major Carter scowled. She couldn't help but feel a little affronted by the comment even though it wasn't currently her trying to get the door open. Even if she was over ten years older, he still didn't trust in her abilities.

The door suddenly opened, and General O'Neill immediately radioed, "Nice one, Sam." Major Carter couldn't help but grinned at the glare he received from her father. Apparently the General knew what she was capable of. That made her strangely happy, especially when even Colonel O'Neill turned to give her a proud smile.

Colonel Carter smiled to herself then looked at the schematics, "I'll direct you through the temple, but you won't have to worry about many Jaffa or Super Soldiers. There doesn't seem to be many weapons inside either. Basically Sopdu thought no one could possibly get past his outside security, and put minimal effort inside."

General O'Neill held back a chuckle at her mocking voice. He reprimanded softly, "Carter… There still will be some Jaffa, won't there? I assume you're not going to relax now that you've determined your job easy."

She sat up at the reprimand clear in his voice, even if he didn't sound too upset, "Yes, Sir. I'll ensure you aren't in any danger. That is why I'm here. Now, go down the corridor and take your second right."

They followed her instructions around a few corners, running into no problems along the way. All of them were starting to get a bad feeling, but Colonel Carter assured them that they were safe, and nothing was going to get them. They still kept on guard in case the sensors on the ship malfunctioned. They were rather old, after all.

They came to what seemed like the central room. They hadn't seen a mothership, but this was a minor Goa'uld so the assumption was that he didn't have one, and anything else was far too large to take back in time with him. General O'Neill turned to Jacob when they reached the doors, speaking quietly, "You're sure there isn't a mothership that could jump in on us at any moment."

Jacob shook his head, "No, a Goa'uld like Sopdu doesn't have that sort of power. Sopdu takes scraps left over when all the battling is done. The first thing the rivalling Goa'uld will take is the mother ship. I also don't see another Goa'uld working for him or with him, so we should be fine."

General O'Neill nodded, holding up a finger as if he was going to ask another question, but instead turned back to the door, tapping his radio, "Carter, what's in this room?"

She looked it over, trying to bring up more information, but unfortunately she was blocked out, "I can't see into that room, Sir."

He frowned at his radio then clicked it, "Come again?"

"There seems to be something blocking the ships sensors or you're too far in. I can't see if there is anyone inside or what is inside. If you can get in then maybe I can have… Major Carter and Dad connect it back to this ship, but you're going to be walking into that room blind. Sorry, Sir." She winced as she tried to work on a way to learn what was in there, while also ensuring the door was unlocked for them.

He grumbled, turning to look at all of them. They looked like quite a mismatch of a team even though all but the two Daniels were trained warriors. They'd just have to be careful and shoot first, ask questions later sort of approach. If not then they would be shot first and there likely would be no questions asked or to ask. He ordered quickly, "Alright, take up formations and get ready for a fight. Considering he doesn't have many Jaffa or Super Soldiers, I think it won't be much of a fight." He switched his gun's setting to shoot any super soldiers that might be in there while his Teal'c did the same. The others could take care of any Jaffa, but if there was Super Soldiers on the other side of this door then someone had to take care of them.

They all knew Colonel Carter would continue to try and help them, but they couldn't count on her for everything. General O'Neill was starting to realize that he really was relying on her for everything, and it was time to take some of the weight off her shoulder, even if that probably made her worry more. He gestured for them all to take positions around the corridor, ready for when he opened the door. He didn't have any of those Goa'uld grenades or he would throw that in first. They'd have to deal with that they had.

He nodded to Colonel O'Neill who was closest to the door. He pushed the buttons that opened the door slowly. Each of them ducked down to check the opening, waiting until they could properly see, although the opening door was certainly giving them away.

A few Jaffa came around the corner, shooting a staff blast at the floor right in front of General O'Neill. He leaned back, while also quickly aiming and shooting at the Jaffa that came into view before they could shoot back. Fortunately it seemed they outnumbered the Jaffa, and they were dead before they could hit anything but the floor in front of them.

They didn't relax as they were sure a Goa'uld was in the room. Unfortunately they couldn't simply shoot and ask questions later, especially with Carter reminding them that they had to try not to kill the younger version of Sop'du or else they would change time. General O'Neill inched forward into the room, hearing the indignation of a Goa'uld who had just lost what were probably the last of his Jaffa.

Quickly General O'Neill turned the corner, aiming his gun at the two Goa'uld across the room. One was sitting leisurely sitting on his throne while the other stood with his arm outstretched and a hand device ready to activate. The team circled around with Major Carter and Colonel O'Neill hiding partially behind a console on either side of the room, aiming each at one of the Goa'uld.

The room was a classic Goa'uld control room. There were consoles to control the weapons and everything going on in the temple. Major Carter tried discreetly to work on one of the consoles to try and send the information to Colonel Carter. There may be more she couldn't see that the computer could tell her.

While the place wasn't a mother ship, it certainly looked like one. For a minor Goa'uld, he sure liked to have lavish areas on deserted planets. He supposed this was simply from what he had collected previously, as well as a way to keep his collections a secret from those that would want to destroy them. No one would fight for a deserted planet with no Naquadah.

General O'Neill frowned as he took a quick assessment of the room then of them while also being ready to move quickly if he needed to, "Which of you is Sop'du the elder then? It's rather important information 'cause you see, we only want to kill one of you."

The one in the chair snorted, "And we will kill all of you, so I don't see what the point of this insolence is."

He grinned, "Oh, you know me. I'm full of insolence. Ba'al certainly thought so." He glanced around at his team then continued mockingly, "Besides, I believe we outnumber you significantly. While I've been told we need one of you alive, I'm sure the universe would survive with one less Goa'uld." He ignored the grumble over the radio from Colonel Carter, but she had to know if it came down to it, it was better to kill them both than let them kill any of them.

Again the Sopdu on the throne narrowed his eyes and replied menacingly, "You wouldn't dare. Who knows, perhaps without me, one of you would be dead."

Colonel O'Neill snorted, "Yeah, I highly doubt that. If anything more people would be alive without you."

Jacob looked nervously between the two then to the Goa'uld, "Perhaps try not to antagonize him so much?"

General O'Neill shrugged, "They won't do anything, not until they're sure they can take us all out, which since all their Jaffa are gone, will be rather hard." He caught one of the Goa'uld glancing to the door so he gestured discreetly for the elder Teal'c and Daniel to go check the door. Surprise visitors would make this much more difficult.

The Sopdu standing, watching them move, but kept the hand device trained on O'Neill. Now he spoke, cockily, "Unfortunately you have no idea what is going on here. I'm afraid we have the advantage."

General O'Neill looked at him like he might be crazy, "No, no I'm pretty sure it's you who has no idea what's going on here. The thing is, most if not all of your Jaffa and Super Soldiers are dead. We have a lot of weapons pointed at you, and if you have those shields, I know how to get through those too, so, I'm not sure you understand the situation you're in."

Sopdu's other hand waved dismissively, "I know exactly the situation I'm in. If you shoot both of us, your timeline could change. You never come here, so therefore you simply would stop existing. There's a chance the Goa'uld will not be defeated, and you or any of your team could be dead. Time is not something that should be messed with."

"And yet you did anyways? We're only here to stop you from messing with time, so I think I'll take my chances with shooting both of you. We can always deal with one less Goa'uld, no matter how minor you may be. Or you can make this easier, tell us which one is from the future, and we'll kill you then be on our way." General O'Neill kept his gun trained on the one with a raised arm, but he was sure that one definitely had a personal shield to be taken out. Still, he didn't want any surprises.

His gaze flicked to the Sopdu on the throne when he replied, "Ah, but you have brought our objective to us. We are here to kill SG-1, the younger group if not also the older group. We've been expecting you, in fact, and you've given us exactly what we need."


	15. End of a Mission

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This begins the not editted chapters. You can point out any mistakes if you want, I won't mind. Hopefully you still enjoy it.

Colonel Carter was working on figuring out if she could see which one was from the future since appearances wouldn't give them away, and it was likely the younger had the same knowledge as the elder, but she was coming up with nothing. She was vaguely listening to the conversation going on when Sopdu's reply made her look into something else. She ignored the snarky reply from General O'Neill then froze as the data finally came in for that room.

She got on her radio quickly, "Sir, you have to retreat. Get out of there and come back to the ship. We'll regroup and think this over, but you have to get out of there."

For a moment it seemed as if he ignored her, but soon their life signs started to pop up outside the room. He gave one last reply telling them to stay put, and that they'd be back. She breathed out in relief as he came onto the radio, sounding rather angry with her, "What was that about, Carter? We were getting somewhere. You better have a damned good reason for pulling us out of that room."

"Sir, there are explosives rigged in that room. I couldn't see it before you entered the room, but they're throughout the room. I think his shield could have protected him." She paused as she looked up at the screen, flashing a warning. He was still setting off the bombs, but why? "Get out of the temple. They still plan to blow those bombs. There could be more or it could take the whole temple down on you, just get out of there." She did her best to stay calm while working on seeing where else the explosives could be, but she could only see a presence from within the room. There was a chance of being more, but she had no way to see them.

They walked down the corridor quickly, glancing every which way to ensure no Jaffa surprised them. As they were nearing the exist Colonel Carter then spotted more explosives hidden throughout the temple, just like the last one. She growled, "Leave the way you came in. Just stick against the wall and the sensors still shouldn't notice you. Once you're in the forest, it should be safer."

"Yeah, leaving the way we came in is harder than it sounds." He growled into the radio then turned to Jacob. "Which way?"

Jacob shrugged, "I don't know every Goa'uld compound. I think we went this way." He received a pointed glare from his daughter as they hurried along towards the exit. Fortunately, the farther from that room they got, the better Colonel Carter could see them and point them in the right direction.

As they reached the exit, however, the temple rocked with a minor explosion. General O'Neill simply pushed the younger team through as Daniel opened the door that led outside. The rocking got more intense as they hurried towards the trees. The last explosion which happened to be nearby threw the General and Jacob a few feet into the trees. They landed hard.

General O'Neill groaned and rolled to get up. He was sore everywhere, but they had to get going. There could be more explosions close. He helped Jacob up then headed towards the forest where the rest were waiting worriedly, looking a little scrapped up themselves. He tapped the radio on his ear, "Carter, are there any in the forest?"

"Yes sir, but they are deeper in. Stick to the edge of the forest and you should be fine. I suggest you come back to the ship. I have a plan." She reported as she pulled out equipment.

General O'Neill gestured for them to get moving, sticking closely to the forest as they headed back to the ship. They watched the temple as they walked, ensuring they didn't get spotted by any of the weapons or Jaffa that they passed. Much of it seemed to have exploded, but it seemed they hadn't completely destroyed their own temple. They were starting to wonder the point of it all since it had hardly hurt them.

When they reached the area where the ship was parked, General O'Neill looked around in worry, "This is the problem with an invisible ship. I always forget where we park."

Before Daniel could reply to go along with the look he gave him, the hatch opened and Colonel Carter exited the ship, a relieved smile on her face. Despite knowing they were all fine, her eyes focused on General O'Neill and looked him over quickly. He looked fine, but she couldn't be sure. He walked slowly up to her, holding her gaze as he came to stand in front of her. She was highly aware that everyone was watching them, but a part of her didn't care.

Before he could say anything that would lower all her guards and do something they'd both regret, she diverted her eyes when the others started to move into the ship. She swallowed and started to quickly command, "Get in quickly. We can talk inside."

They hurried inside and she closed the hatch, now looking to everyone else to make sure they were fine, but it seemed to be true. She took a deep breath then walked over to her laptop which was now connected to Merlin's device instead of the ship. She moved through the program and quickly turned it on. A bright light encompassed them then faded, leaving them as they were before.

She turned to everyone else, getting both confused and curious looks. She explained to General O'Neill, "Despite the fact that the ship is invisible, there is still a chance that Sopdu could find us. He does have Ori technology, and while the cloak helps, we know it can be found still. The one thing even the Ori couldn't get through was this." She gestured to the device. "It'll give us time to talk and work out a plan."

"And if they leave the planet?" Colonel O'Neill asked skeptically.

"I don't think they will. Everything they have is here, the technology, the soldiers, and security from the other Goa'uld. The Sopdu from the future would know if this temple was ever attacked, and it wasn't, at least not for a long time. Besides, didn't they seem rather… confident?"

General O'Neill gave her a look as he lowered himself into a chair, "Carter, they're Goa'uld. Of course they're confident. Besides, I think he was more confident about the explosives he set off than anything." He winced and grabbed his side, trying to hide the wince, but his wife had already been watching him closely.

She narrowed her eyes at him, "What's wrong?"

He looked up at her then glanced at their Daniel who simply shrugged with an amused smile on his face, "Just getting old, Carter, nothing to worry about." He paused, "Well, and I may have been thrown in the blast, but it's nothing, just a little sore."

She looked around at the others then focused on him, moving closer and placing her hand on his side, seeing the wince at the gesture. Daniel stepped up since no one else seemed willing to say anything, "He and Jacob were closest to the blast and were thrown. I assume Selmak is taking care of Jacob… The rest of us are fine. Just some minor scrapes and bruises."

She glanced at Daniel then back to General O'Neill, "I should check his wounds. Why don't you all head to the back and the ship. We'll join you in a second."

Daniel shared a look with Teal'c then shrugged, "Yeah, of course. Come on. Let's look over some things. We can go outside, right Sam?" She nodded, a bit distracted, which Daniel had anticipated. He gestured to the others to go to the back, a little surprised when they followed.

Once they were gone and Daniel had closed the hatch she lifted up his shirt to check, probing the wound where there was a large bruise appearing, "You're lucky, it's just a bruise." She turned and grabbed the first aid kit, avoiding his eyes.

He watched her now, cocking his head in study, "Sam… I'm fine. I've had worse, in fact you had worse just yesterday. You do know how this looks, right?"

She shrugged, "They can think what they want. We'll be out there in a minute."

He glanced to the door then back to her, "Yeah, but you're the one who said we shouldn't let them know, and they're going to start assuming a lot of things. Who knows, Daniel could be telling them right now. You know Daniel."

She sighed and finally looked at him. He was raising an eyebrow at her, and she sighed as she got to work, "We knew it was a chance they might find out anyways. Teal'c already knows."

He nodded, "He does, but Teal'c isn't us. I certainly don't think we were ready to face the reality at this point in time. It took them nearly dying to admit anything out loud."

"They still admit it and they do care for each other right now."

"They do, but you knew that when you said it would be best not to tell them. I'm following your lead here, Sam, but at this rate they'll find out soon. I mean, I can't be that oblivious, can I?"

She laughed, finishing her check up with a light jab to his bruise which earned her an indignant "Ow." She smirked as she packed away the kit. "I think it has less to do with being oblivious and more to do with being in denial. At this point it looked like an impossibility to what was the point of acknowledging it."

He continued to rub his side, scowling at her in mock anger, "Well maybe some hope would do them some good. That Zatarc test wasn't exactly easy."

"No, but you remember they have to forget all of this, right? It won't matter anyways. Come on, we should go figure out what our next move is."

He grabbed her arm and gave her a sympathetic look, "Hope can help, Carter, even if they don't remember why they have hope."

She gave him a weak smile, "We can't change our past, Sir, and you know it."

He tried to correct her use of "Sir," but she moved out of his grasp and opened the door before he could say more. Apparently their conversation was over.

Meanwhile Daniel and Teal'c had been avoiding every question they could about what was going on there. The younger team both didn't want to know and were really curious about what was going on. The younger Daniel asked as soon as Colonel Carter entered the room, "So how is he?"

Colonel Carter responded quickly with some anxiety in her voice, "Fine, just some bruising. We should get to figuring out what to do next."

The younger Teal'c rose an eyebrow at her while the rest of the younger team and Jacob shared looks. They knew something was going on, but she was determined to ignore it. General O'Neill leaned against the wall, still watching her, but he started the conversation since that tended to be his job, "What's the plan then Carter. We're hidden, but they're expecting us now, so what can we do?"

"Um… well…" She looked around at each of them then breathed out to organize her thoughts. "That was the other part of my plan. While Merlin's device is on, we can leave the ship while still being out of phase. That gives us a chance to get close to them, and hopefully figure out which one is which. As you all know their shield block our weapons, but other, slower moving objects can make it through."

General O'Neill thought for a moment then protested lightly, "Carter, that doesn't seem like much of a plan. That's all we have? That counts on a lot of ifs. If we can figure out which one, and if we can kill them without getting killed ourselves…" He gestured vaguely with a grimace for them to continue the thought as they will. "There has to be a better idea."

He looked around the room to see thoughtful, but blank looks. Colonel O'Neill decided to try since they all looked to be struggling, "Anything we placed while out of phase will reappear when it's turned off, correct?" Carter nodded. "Well then we set up a bunch of C-4 ready to blow once they're back in this phase."

Colonel Carter shook her head, "It wouldn't work or help. Their shields can protect them from any blast, and anyways, it seems like they've blown up most of their temple on their own." He grimaced and nodded. "But… we could still have an attack ready. One of us would have to get pretty close to them though."

The general thought for a moment before gesturing to the older group, "Then one of us does it. We can't risk any of you getting hurt." He leveled a look at his wife, "Well, one of us do it. You're already injured. Best not have you do it."

She bristled at that, "I can handle myself just fine, Sir. This wound won't stop me from completing a mission. I can handle myself as well as you can. Besides Teal'c can't do this. Even with the tretonin there's still naquadah in his blood. Sopdu will detect him before he can strike."

He rose an eyebrow at her, "If we're going by that then Daniel has to do it and I'm fairly certain that isn't a good idea." He ignored Daniel when he sat up, trying to look tough. He knew it was a bad idea anyways.

She sighed, seeing that she was probably going to lose this one, "The naquadah in our blood is minimal, probably less so for you since Kanaan didn't die in you, and the Goa'uld didn't really get a chance to stick around for long…" He continued to give her that raised eyebrow in almost perfect imitation of Teal'c. "You're going to insist you go, aren't you?"

"Of course I am. You're still injured, and even if it wasn't for the danger of our younger selves getting hurt, every one of them except Daniel again have naquadah coursing through their blood, so I'm the only option." She looked ready to argue, but he wasn't having it. "Carter, this isn't up for discussion. You know this is the best option. We're not going now though. We need to rest and come up with a proper plan for everyone. We need this to end tomorrow."

The younger group watched the argument in fascination, a little confused and shocked at what they were saying. It made sense, but they felt like they were missing information. Colonel O'Neill was the first to argue against himself, "As much as I agree with your assessment, I think we deserve some answers." He held up a hand when Colonel Carter looked ready to fight him too. "Ah! Look, you're going to make us forget anyways, what harm can it do? It'll help if we know everything you're not telling us."

The older Daniel nodded. He understood Sam's worry, but he also understood the younger team's frustration, "They're right, Sam. Let's take the night to rest and talk. We're fairly certain Sopdu won't leave right? We're safe here, so we have nothing to lose." He gestured to the younger group as they sat across from each other, "Ask away."


	16. Questions

To everyone's surprise Jacob asked the first question before anyone else could even think of what to say, "What did you mean by Kanaan? You've never met Kanaan as far as I know. At least not yet, so what did you mean?"

General O'Neill shifted uncomfortably, fiddling with his hands while Colonel O'Neill asked, "Who's Kanaan? A goa'uld?"

Jacob shook his head, "No, he's a Tok'ra operative. He's been around, but there was never any reason to introduce you to him."

Before Colonel O'Neill could ask more questions, General O'Neill cut him off, "In a couple years' time we come across a disease with no cure. One remarkably similar to the virus introduced into Carter's leg with that arrow. An Ancient woman carried the disease and passed it on to us and a few other people. She had the ability to heal, but the disease was weakening her as well. She died before she could heal me, and the only known cure was to take a Tok'ra symbiote which they happened to have standing by." He grimaced at the memory, but a hand covered his in comfort. He knew he should probably demand they come up with a plan before the questions, but he could also tell that planning likely wouldn't happen. Their younger selves were simply far too curious.

Colonel O'Neill looked absolutely disgusted at this information, but before he could voice his disgust, Jacob continued his query, "So you accepted a symbiote until you were healed and then Kanaan left you for another? I assume since you said he left and I don't sense a symbiote in you now."

He shrugged, not really wanting to get into this story, "It's not really important what happened. You'll see one day. Why don't we switch to other questions or make a plan instead?"

Jacob and Colonel O'Neill looked annoyed at the dodge of the answer they were obviously looking for. They weren't sure why they expected anything different. Apparently Jack hadn't changed much at all. Colonel O'Neill apparently decided to press a little harder, "Oh come on, we know the plan already. You're just trying to change the subject."

General O'Neill scowled at him with a frustrated noise then dropped his head into his hands, glancing over at Colonel Carter who gave him a sympathetic look then answered for him in the vaguest way possible, "It wasn't a great experience for him." She ignored the scoff he gave. "And that's all we're going to say or you really will want us to change the past so you don't have to go through it."

Major Carter answered with a shake of her head, "No, we will forget all of this, so we won't be able to change the future, we're simply curious. You seem… different is all." She studied each of them for a moment then asked a question they probably hadn't been expecting, "I doubt you want to answer this question, but we need to know… Who's died? And don't say no one because despite the fact that we've all somehow survived, this isn't exactly a job with few casualties, and we've already lost some people."

The rest of the younger team were surprised by the question, but quickly realized they wanted answers too, especially when they saw the others flinch at the question. Colonel Carter and General O'Neill simply looked down. Daniel glanced at Jacob then around the ship, and Teal'c sat quietly, looking as though he were thinking.

General O'Neill responded with a joke, although they could all hear the strain in his voice, "Well to say we haven't died would be a lie. Daniel's died more than any of us, he just keeps coming back to life." He looked up with a wry smile, but his gaze drifted to Colonel Carter, quickly turning to worry when she didn't smile.

Jacob cleared his throat, not having missed some of the glances in his direction, "Perhaps that isn't a safe question to ask, Sam. If you knew, you may want to try to change the future, attempt to hold onto the memory of who will die. I'm sure they want to change the past, but they know they can't."

She scowled and shook her head, "We're not asking them to change anything, just what to expect. We just want to know what has changed and I guess I am curious. I'm sure you are too."

Colonel O'Neill nodded in agreement, "She's right. It might not be fair, but we're sitting here talking, and despite the fact that they're us, we don't really know them. A lot has changed, and you can see it too. They've asked us to trust them, but it would be nice to have more than they're giving us."

General O'Neill frowned at him, but seemed to be considering it. Daniel shrugged in frustration, but they all watched Colonel Carter. She looked up at the General, "We really shouldn't. There could be a lasting memory, and despite what they say, they will want to change this."

He thought for a moment. "They will, you're right, but they're not going to let this go either. We're going to have to wipe a lot of memories as it is. If it really comes down to it and your machine doesn't work then we call the Asgard. They can wipe memories." He gave a vague gesture and shrugged. Finally a faint smile played at the corner of her lips, and he was glad for even just that.

Finally she turned to the younger team, unsure of why they wanted her to do this, but she certainly hoped they'd help. "Well, to be completely fair, Daniel 'dying' was harder than General O'Neill makes it out to be. He wasn't dead, and we knew that, but he was gone, and we weren't sure when he'd be back."

Daniel smiled at her and added, "Aw, you did miss me." He aimed the comment at Jack, hoping to lighten the mood.

Sam smiled when General O'Neill glared at him, but she continued while ignoring them, "That's not what you're asking about." The others continued to stare at her. She took a deep breath, "Years from now there is a team searching ruins when a device alerts a Goa'uld to their presence. By the time I realized a message had been sent, one of their team had been shot. They called for backup and we all went, including Doctor Fraiser to deal with the wounded man."

General O'Neill wasn't sure he could manage to tell this story any more than she could. It had been years, but they still all hurt. When she paused to take a breath, he added softly, "That man survived. It's no one you know yet, but it's important." The others were absolutely silent as they watched the older team.

Sam continued solemnly, "There was probably more Jaffa than we could handle, but we tried anyways. You" she gestured to Colonel O'Neill "were shot, but you survived, as you can see." Tears began to gather in her eyes, but she fought it back. She wasn't going to do that right now. "But…" She choked off and rubbed at her face.

She was incredibly grateful that Daniel continued from there, "Janet was tending to the airman that had been shot before. I was with her, trying to stabilize him so we could get him back through the gate. She was hit by a stray staff blast." He grimaced, but finished in a whisper. "She was dead before we could do anything about it."

The pained silence was only filled with deep breaths. The younger team stared in horror, trying to gather their thoughts, while the older team did their best not to remember. It certainly wasn't the only death that had shaped them, but it was the one that had hurt the most.

Surprisingly to everyone, Colonel O'Neill was the one to break the silence in an angry tone, "And you don't want us to change our future? How can you know that happens and not want us to change this? Consequences be damned. This isn't right."

Colonel Carter stood, suddenly angry and fed up, "You think we don't want to get Janet back? You think I wouldn't give everything to save all the lives I've lost? Martouf dies in a couple months, Lantash soon after that, then Narim, and about a year after Janet dies he dies too!" She gestured angrily at her father, too angry to care that tears had started to fall. "I've thought of changing time more times than I care to admit, but I can't because if I do, for all I know someone else will die instead. I can't take that risk, so time has to stay exactly how it is."

Major Carter retorted, not quite as angrily as her future self, "No one else has to die if you just let us remember what we need to know. Janet can live and maybe others too. Just give us a chance to fix this."

She hadn't been prepared for the cold glare she'd get from her future self or the defeat in her eyes behind all the fire. Colonel Carter forcefully denied her, "No. You should know from that time in those awful chairs that no matter how many times you try to change something, nothing can be changed. They could die on another mission or someone else dies because they're alive. You don't know what will happen. Don't try to pretend you can or that you can fix our lives. It doesn't work that way."

Colonel O'Neill intercepted them with a glare at her, "Hey, don't take this out on her. She's just trying to help. We understand-"

"You don't understand, that's the thing. You've lost people before, but you haven't been what we've been through, not yet. Until then, you really won't understand." She swiped at her cheeks in annoyance then turned to the door, hitting the release. "I just need a minute." She muttered it more for her team than for them, but she hoped no one followed her.

General O'Neill looked down at her his hands for a long moment while the rest stared in shock at the open door. He looked up at Jacob grimly, "Losing Janet and then losing you a year later really hurt her. She toughed it out like she always does, but I know she still misses you. Being here with you and especially with Janet I think has just… dragged up bad feelings. It has for all of us." He turned to Colonel O'Neill and Major Carter then, "So I'd appreciate not getting angry over something you know we can't control or change." He pushed up and headed off to follow her without another word.

Major Carter looked like she wanted to stop him, but she didn't know how. She turned to Daniel with a frown, "I didn't think she'd want anyone to follow."

Daniel grimaced, sharing a look with Teal'c, "She probably doesn't, but if anyone, it's best that we just let him go after her. They'll be back, and the field will keep them out of phase so they'll be fine."

Teal'c nodded in agreement, "O'Neill will comfort her, and they will be back, but I would suggest not upsetting them further." He scowled at them, despite understanding how they felt. Even if they were simply young and didn't understand, he didn't want to see his friends hurt.

Daniel added on as an afterthought, "Sam's lost a lot of people. She didn't even list everyone, but every day she has to face that. You of all people should understand that, Jack. And every day, she has to worry that her husband will be next despite the fact that she's more likely to die than he is." He paused when all eyes turned to him, including a glare from Teal'c. "I… wasn't supposed to tell you that."

Jack found her leaning her forehead against a tree, trying not to cry, but the tears were still streaming down her face. His heart broke all over again for her. While she'd been first crying out of anger, she was now crying in grief. He kind of wished he could snap a twig with his feet or rustle leaves, but his feet went right through which meant he might end up startling her. "Sam…"

Her eyes snapped up, and she did jump a little, but she immediately calmed when she saw him. Her eyes scanned his face and quickly figured out it was her Jack and not Colonel O'Neill coming to apologize. Still, she didn't really want him here either. She sighed out slowly, with jagged breaths and again wiped at her cheeks. "I'm not sure I even want to see you right now."

He nodded, taking a cautious step towards her, "I know. I was… am an ass, but I had good intentions all the same. He may not love you the way I do, but he does care. He was just upset."

She scowled at the ground, leaning her back against the tree now, "No, he cares about her. He doesn't know me."

He wanted to argue, but he knew she was right. "A lot has changed over the years, you and me especially. But you have to admit, he cared about your alternate self while barely knowing her. He must care about you." He took another step forward and gently took one of her hands in his. "One day he will love you more than anything, and be frankly amazed you don't walk away when we get into stupid arguments."

She finally looked at him and his dumb smile that was meant to make her feel better. It did a little bit, but she still felt terribly miserable and upset. "I know it's been such a long time since Janet and my dad died, and I should be over it, but…" She choked out, starting to feel embarrassed by her emotions, but unable to stop them. "I miss them so much sometimes, and then I think about you and… I can't lose you, Jack. I just can't."

"C'mere." He wrapped her in his arm while she cried into his chest. He hadn't realized that Janet and Jacob weren't really the problem. The problem was that he was in danger now, and it was usually him that had to deal with that worry. He didn't deal with it well at all, which was why tears ran unbidden down his cheeks. He held her tightly, rocking her slightly in his best attempt to comfort her. She clung to him until the tears started to fade and she was simply sniffling against his chest.

He ran his hand through her hair, trying to comfort them both then he murmured softly in her ear, "I'm sorry I didn't know how worried you were. I'm always worried, but I never thought you'd worry about me. I'm right here though, and I'm not going anywhere."

She shook her head, burying her face in his chest, "You can't promise that, any more than I can, Jack. We could both die at any time. That's just how life is."

"Yes, it is, but sitting around worrying about what will happen isn't going to get us anywhere. We'll probably both still do it, but at least we've had this time together. I've had 5 years with you, and I wouldn't trade them for anything." He kissed her cheek. "It's been hard with the long distance, but that doesn't make it any less worth it."

She hugged him closer, but a small smile appeared despite the tears still in her eyes. "I love you." She whispered.

He squeezed her back, "I love you too, even if you did look ready to kill my younger self."

She giggled and smacked his chest which made him smile down at her. There was still tear tracks on her cheeks, but the pain in her eyes was fading away. She took a deep breath which came out shaky, but she relaxed after it. He leaned down to kiss his forehead, lingering for a moment until he felt her truly relax. He hated seeing her so hurt and helpless, but he was glad he could help.

They stared at each other for some time, calming each other with their presence until Jack leaned down to properly kiss her. She accepted the gesture happily, kissing him back until they were both breathless. When she pulled back, she was now grinning up at him. There was still pain, but she was feeling better, and she could keep her emotions under control in front of the others.

He glanced towards the ship sheepishly, "They're going to be wondering where we are. Let's go back. They might have some questions."

She nodded and disentangled from him, "You're right. Who knows what Daniel and Teal'c have said to them."

"Oh I'm sure Teal'c has told them all of the embarrassing things he could think of."

She giggled and started back towards the ship, "I'm sure he has." She rounded the corner to the entrance of the ship, taking one last breath to compose herself before she entered with Jack right behind her.

What she hadn't expected was for her father to say without any preamble, "You're married?"

She froze, glancing from him to the others, noticing the incredibly guilty look on his face. "I… am. I kind of thought you had guessed that much." She really wasn't sure what Daniel had told them so she looked to him for answers.

He sighed guiltily, "I may have accidently mentioned your husband, not by name, just that you have one. They asked for more details, but I said it wasn't my place to tell. Sorry."

She shrugged, supposing that if they knew about deaths now, they could know about this. It might send them into shock, but at this point keeping secrets didn't seem to have a point. She leaned against the wall with Jack, looking over the younger team who looked ready to burst, "Just ask the question."

Major Carter was of course the most curious, "Who is he? I honestly thought I'd never get married after Jonas… Do we know him?"

Colonel Carter couldn't help but smile at the rambling excitement. Despite the situation and the fact that they'd just been yelling at each other, she felt weirdly excited to have this conversation herself. "You do know him actually." She paused then pulled her dog tags out from under her shirt, holding them and the ring in her hand. Her younger self became immediately interested in the ring. She smiled then as she remembered something. "Teal'c actually knows who it is." She nodded to their Teal'c who sat silently in the corner. He smiled in response.

The other three turned to him in indignation. They all said "He does?" at the same time, making Colonel Carter and General O'Neill burst out laughing, relieving much of the pain they'd been feeling.

Colonel O'Neill narrowed his eyes at him, "How did you find out and we didn't? Why didn't you tell us?"

"She may be from the future, but I respect Colonel Carter. I would not betray her trust, even to you." He was frustratingly calm. "She asked me not to share the information."

They made a frustrated noise and turned back to her with a frown. Daniel encouraged impatiently, "So are you going to tell us who it is or not?"

She laughed, glancing towards Jack then back to the others. "I'll tell you. There's no point in keeping it from you anymore, but I'm afraid you might go into shock when I do." They made a face, but didn't argue, sitting and leaning in anticipation. She nudged Jack and held out her hand to him which the younger group thought was weird, but Jack understood. He reached under his shirt and pulled out his dog tags which also had a ring hanging around it. He placed it in the hand that held her dog tags then took her hand with a smile at her. She rolled her eyes then held up both of the dog tags to them.

They glanced between the two of them, shock slowly crossing their face. Colonel O'Neill was the first to break the resounding silence, "I think I know what you're saying, but I want to be sure. Are you saying that you're…" He gestured between them "…married?"

General O'Neill nodded, "We are. Have been for about four years. We've been together for more than five, although most of those years were spent apart."

Major Carter shook her head and put her head in her hands, "But how is that possible? You're both still military, aren't you?"

Colonel Carter nodded as she handed back his dog tags, "We are still military, but when Jack went to Washington, he convinced General Hammond and the president that it was either they allowed this or he would retire. They needed him, and with General Hammond on our side, it was allowed. The only catch was that he would be in Washington while I was in Nevada, and later back at the SGC." She shrugged, but General O'Neill knew it still stung.

The younger group looked less confused now, and more worried and even hurt that despite everything they knew they had to go through, their happiness still came at a price. Colonel O'Neill cleared his throat uncomfortably, "And yet you haven't simply walked out on them? I can't imagine being that selfless."

General O'Neill laughed tiredly and humourlessly, "Trust me, we've thought about it. We've even discussed it, but so far our duty to the world and the galaxy has always come first. We take what we can get though, and you're going to do the exact same thing."

Colonel O'Neill and Major Carter's faces both scrunched up and looked absolutely put off by the thought of having to do it. They also shared a look which seemed to deflate every feeling from them until they looked exhausted as their elder selves.

Major Carter asked with exhaustion clear in her voice, "How could you possibly have the will to keep going after all of that? How much…" She grimaced and gestured vaguely around them, glad when Colonel Carter seemed to understand.

"How much have we been through to get here? How long do you have to wait and why not just break the rules? To be fair I've asked myself why we didn't break the rules for a long time, but if we had, it could have destroyed what we had, not just lost us our ranks and our job."

Major Carter nodded, although she seemed a bit thrown by the response, "Uh… yeah, I suppose that." She glanced at Colonel O'Neill, but the look was hesitant. They likely had no idea what to think of this.

General O'Neill glanced between them and sighed, "I'm not sure I could say you love each other yet if my memory serves right, but you certainly do care for each other. I assume you don't work for three months straight to bring just anyone back." He winked at her, gaining more of a blush from the younger one than he could ever get now. "I can't promise it'll get easier, but I promise that feeling with grow."

Colonel Carter laughed mirthlessly, "Let's face it, it got harder. There's a reason I gave up… Well not… I just…" She scowled at him when a smile grew on his face as he watched her struggle. "Forget I said anything."

They all stared at her for a moment then turned to General O'Neill as if he would give them an answer. He simply shook his head. It wasn't his place to tell, and besides, he'd only sound like a jealous fool if he did. It wasn't anything they needed to know either so he changed the subject for her. "Look, the years are going to fly by and before you know it, you'll be living through this stuff. You really don't want to hear about the awful parts and we really don't want to talk about the awful parts so let's move on to something happier or stop talking about your future altogether. We probably should get some rest."

The others looked annoyed, but conceded and agreed to sleep. Despite the fact that they were invisible and out of phase, they still wanted someone to keep watch in case anything failed. Colonel Carter was fairly certain that it wouldn't fail, but she wasn't going to argue with caution. Sopdu had few if any Jaffa and Super Soldiers at his disposal, but he would still be capable of attacking them in their sleep if he found them.

It was odd and a bit awkward, but for once General O'Neill and Colonel Carter didn't have to sleep so far apart to keep up appearances. They got odd looks from the younger group, but they ignored it in favor of curling up in the corner to try and sleep in the somewhat cramped space. Tomorrow this could be over, and they all hoped for that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I loved writing this chapter. Confronting their future which is so different than they could have imagined. It's just fun.


	17. Back To Vacation

Colonel Carter and General O'Neill woke first. Carter went to check that they were still out of phase while O'Neill went to check the perimeter to see what Sopdu had done during the night. It seemed nothing had happened which is what they thought he would do. He assumed her had the upper hand, which, to be fair, at the moment he did. They'd figure that out once the others woke up. They could certainly find Sopdu easily enough, but determining which was which would be difficult. At least he was now out of bombs to try and blow them up with.

The others woke soon after, waking to any noise made in the ship. They were all used to sleeping off world and being wary of any and all sounds.

General O'Neill returned to find them all up while both Colonel Carter fiddled with her devices, "They haven't left. Actually it looks like they might be looking for us. We kind of took out all their Jaffa, but they still have some things to their disposal. They haven't found us though so, at least we know that's working." He pointed to the device. "Anyone have any ideas on how we'll figure out which one is which? They unfortunately look identical."

Everyone shared looks then shrugged. The older Daniel tried to answer first, "We can't be sure if there are any differences or what those differences are. The Tok'ra didn't give us a lot of information. We could try to talk to them and get them to slip up."

General O'Neill nodded while Colonel O'Neill scoffed, "Oh yeah, they do love to gloat."

Daniel gestured towards him, "Well exactly. He can't have told his younger self everything, so we try to get him to slip up. Once they do, we take them out. We just need to set a trap so we can talk to them without getting killed."

Colonel Carter looked up then, "Well actually, if we take this device with us, we should be able to walk right up to them without them noticing as General O'Neill did while he was scouting. Once we're all in position I can turn it off and we'll grab them before they can raise any shields or find any way to defend themselves. I'd remove their hand devices immediately, but then we can talk and get them to talk. If they don't talk though, we'll need a plan B."

"Or we just sit it out until they talk. We have time." Colonel O'Neill said. "Eventually they'll slip something they shouldn't know. Then we zat them both, and it's smooth sailing from there." He gestured outward with his hand in a smooth motion, smiling at everyone around.

General O'Neill gestured to the device, "So, you think you can have this mobile and ready to go soon? They're still here, but I doubt they'll stay here forever."

She nodded, "Yeah, just give me a couple of minutes and we should be good to go. The crystal is more mobile than a naquadah generator." She continued to fiddle around while everyone watched in tense silence. Major Carter looked like she wanted to help but couldn't. "Okay, done. Let's go."

After all the fuss it seemed almost too simple, but they supposed they'd gone through a lot to get here. Every once in awhile the universe had to give them a break. Everything went according to plan. Colonel O'Neill and the younger Teal'c approached from behind the two Goa'uld. With a nod, Colonel Carter deactivated the device and they grabbed them, quickly removing their hand devices before they could do anything about it. Once that was removed, there was nothing they could do but be held captive and give indignant squawks about mistreating gods, which they all firmly ignored.

General O'Neill smirked at them, sitting casually on their throne. It had survived, likely saved by their shields. He gestured to the group, "Well, you're surrounded, got nowhere to go, and I have all the time in the world. Your little stunt with the bombs didn't work, little slow there. Come on, Sopdu, you're just embarrassing yourself at this point."

The Sopdu on the right struggled again but was easily restrained, "You will get nothing from us. You can't stay here forever. You are out of your time. That is dangerous."

General O'Neill nodded from side to side, "Well, sure, but you're in the same boat. Dangerous for you too, so we have the same amount of time. Actually you got here first, so your time will run out first and at that point we'll know exactly who's from the future and our job will be done." He shrugged, "So I'm fine with waiting this out."

Both Sopdu struggled again then scowled more. Both Teal'cs now ensured that they couldn't move, perhaps yanking their arms a little hard, but it did as a good reminder.

"Here's what we're betting on. There's no way you told your younger self everything, so we're going to go until one of you slips up. It'll be like a fun game. Let's start by listing Goa'uld and see how you react to them. Not that many are alive. They're mostly all gone." Both frowned but there was no reaction. "Well that one was obvious. You'd tell him that much. Did he mention we wiped most of them out though? Even Ba'al lost in the end. On to other, bigger bad guys. You were all rather pathetic."

Jacob opened his mouth to tell Jack it wasn't working, but he was silenced by a look from his older daughter. Sopdu continued to look indignant, not saying anything, but they couldn't keep it up forever. If anything Jack was the expert at antagonizing Goa'uld. "What? Nothing? I mean really, all the Goa'uld were pathetic, but you? What did you even do? Never heard of you until everyone else was gone. Just squandered away, collecting teeth. You couldn't even do that right, it's all gone now."

Left Sopdu said angrily, "Then we will have to collect more. You haven't stopped us, and we'll cause more mayhem than you know."

O'Neill scoffed, "Really? Cause I didn't hear about you before today. No one ever mentioned you. Now you're just a pesky headache that I need to take home, then I can continue my vacation that you rudely interrupted. Honestly, you could have picked a much better time. I rather dislike when someone interrupts my time off, so you could make this easy or you could make this difficult. Of course you'll make it difficult, so why don't you tell me, how is everything really in the future? You're doing amazing right? No problems at all?"

Left Sopdu scoffed, "You just said we weren't, so if you expect that to be a give away, you're stupider than I thought."

General O'Neill smirked, "Nah, just checking that you were listening. Now, let's move on to being replaced…"

It took two hours of General O'Neill talking about mostly nonsense from the future before one of them slipped up, and he slipped up badly. "So there we were, facing off against Ba'al when he decided perhaps the Tauri were a worthy ally after all. He joined our side and hasn't regretted it since."

Left Sopdu sputtered indignately, "That isn't how it happened. Ba'al was meerly tricking you. Besides, Ba'al was killed when you found the last of his clones. He never was your ally and you never accepted him as an ally. That would be preposterous."

General O'Neill smiled slyly then pointed to the Sopdu on the left, "Grab him, we're bringing him back. Sam, wipe the others mind then knock him out and leave him here. He'll find his way out. Let's go home."

Colonel Carter smiled at him then grabbed the device she'd gotten ready that morning , placing part of it into his head then turning on her device which wiped his mind of the last few days. It was tricky, but it helped that all the information was at the front of his mind at the moment. "It'll just be a moment."

General O'Neill pulled out his zat and shot the Sopdu, only waiting a second for Teal'c to let go of him so he could shoot him. The other tried to fight, but the memory erasing knocked him out on its own. So much for being superior. It had been tested on Tok'ra before, so they knew it would work just fine on him. They left him on the ground while the older Teal'c brought the older Sopdu back to the jumper with them. The older group was trying their best to hide their smiles, but it was hard. Even Teal'c couldn't hide how happy he was.

Colonel O'Neill tightened the ropes on the unconscious Sopdu and said, "Don't be too happy yet. We still have to get you home, and who knows if we changed anything."

"Jack's right." Jacob said disappointedly, "We can't celebrate just yet. You might get home and find everything's changed."

Colonel Carter sighed, "I thought I was the one who worried about that. Even if some things have changed, Sopdu was never a major player. We never heard much about him. And it's better than changing the future so we don't exist in it. I think I prefer whatever future we go home to."

General O'Neill clapped Jacob on the back, "Don't be so serious, Jacob. He isn't going anywhere and we're all alive. We can deal with the consequences when we get home. Speaking of." He moved around the somewhat crowded jumper to the pilots seat and started her up. "Carter you ready to wipe everyone's minds?"

"Of course, Sir." She turned to Teal'c who was keeping a close eye on Sopdu, ready to knock him out with a swift hit to the head if need be. "Take us home."

No one said anything else as they flew over the ruins of Sopdu's temple and into the Stargate. Once back at Stargate command they were directed to fly into the bay they arrived in. Before they could though, Hammond asked, "How did it go?"

General O'Neill glanced back at Colonel O'Neill before answering, "Fine enough sir. We're all alive, and we have the future Sopdu in our custody. We'd now like to make everyone forget we were here then go home."

Hammond nodded, "Of course. Take care of yourselves."

O'Neill smiled and nodded to him, "Of course. We always do."

Once they landed, Colonel Carter handed all of them the Tok'ra device and gestured to their heads, "Put that in then we'll get this started. Everyone else saw little of us so a psychic wave is going to knock the memories taking from your memories. They might lose a little time, but people lose time everyday. It won't be anything surprising, just a little glitch in the system. Best leave the ship first so we don't have to drag you out there." She smiled at all of them while they stared rather worriedly. "It'll be fine and no differences will be made to the time line. I tested it out before we got here, just trust me."

Colonel O'Neill was the first to nod and leave the ship. The others followed after. Once outside, Colonel Carter activated the device, targetting their memories from the last couple of days. It was quite and probably a little painful. They collapsed to the ground, unharmed. The others went to remove the devices while she worked on generating the pulse. It only took a moment for the machine to gather the information on them it needed before sending out a psychic pulse that erased all memory of them from everyone on the base. It'd just be a strange blip in time that they wouldn't worry too much about. Too many other strange things happened around here.

General O'Neill handed her the pile of devices. "Time to head home then?"

"Yes, everything should be done. So long as we have everything." She looked around then at the others. "We're not forgetting anything right?"

Daniel looked at the equipment and shrugged, "I don't see anything missing. I'd say it's time to get this guy home before he wakes up." He kicked lightly at Sopdu who didn't even stir.

O'Neill glanced back from his seat and scowled, "I say we could just kill him. We just have to bring the body back right?"

Colonel Carter nodded slowly, "Technically, yes, but I'd also like to get to the future and ensure we didn't grab the wrong one before we do that. Just to be on the safe side."

He grumbled his assent and moved to the front of the ship to take them home. The other three watched Sopdu warily while Sam ensured everything as still working. The ship quickly powered up and after some brief concentration they felt a shift, finding themselves in what looked like the future again.

General O'Neill slowly removed his hands from the console and turned back to them. "We're back, right?" He directed the question to Sam then looked out the window, seeing what looked like the future they left from, but the room looked so similar it was difficult to tell, and there was really no telling if they'd completely messed up the past from just looking.

Carter got up slowly then went to the back and opened the ship, stepping out and looking around briefly before the door to the room opened and Vala shot in with Mitchell and General Landry behind her. She hugs Sam excitedly, knocking her back a step. "You're back, you made it!" She shouted, letting go of Sam then running to Daniel, but stopping short when she saw Sopdu. "Oh, is he still alive?"

Jack laughed, "Yes, unfortunately he is. Sam thought it best to bring him back and make sure we had the right one first. You know, just in case."

Vala made a face, but decided to ignore the Goa'uld so she could hug Daniel as well. Mitchell and Landry came to stand by the ship, also looking at the body with unfavourable expressions, but seemed happy to have everyone back.

O'Neill finally got fed up with everyone scowling at the body and ordered, "Hey Cam, Teal'c take him the holding cell for now. Or just kill him, I'm impartial really. I just don't want to stand around until he wakes up."

Cam quickly went from relaxed to at attention and did as ordered with Teal'c, dragging him out of the room none too carefully.

"Well, now that that's out of here, and it seems we completed the mission without any repercussions, I'd like to talk to the Tok'ra before I go take a long, long vacation." Jack said with a clap of his hands. "Are they still here?"

Landry frowned but nodded. "They are still here. You weren't exactly gone for very long." He looked around at the rest of the group, Vala hanging off Daniel while Sam and Jack stood close together and smiled. "It's good to have you back. Good work team."

Jack hummed happily. "We did do good. Now as much as I love this, and as much as I'm sure you want a briefing, I really do need to talk to the Tok'ra." He gestured to the door questioningly.

"Right." Landry replied, walking towards the door. "I'll have someone find the Tok'ra and meet you in the briefing room immediately."

"Thank you." Jack nodded to him appreciatively. Landry left then to arrange that. The four left decided they might as well follow out at a slower pace, going to change before their briefing and talk with the Tok'ra. None of them were really looking forward to it. They hoped it was nothing, but a gut feeling told them it was definitely something.

They chatted softly, but didn't really feel like saying much. Vala filled them in on how long they'd been gone and what little had happened, although she did mention the Tok'ra acting strange, like they expected something to happen. Nothing seems to have changed, but they wouldn't know for sure until they checked every possibility.

Once changed they met up with Teal'c and Cameron on the way back to the briefing room. "Sopdu has been secured." Teal'c assured in his deep, calming voice. "He has no way to escape from his confines. Once you are ready, you can deal with him as you see fit, O'Neill."

Jack nodded. "Thank you, Teal'c. Why don't you change then meet us in the briefing room." Teal'c nodded back then turned into the change rooms.

Once they reached the briefing room, they found the Tok'ra that brought this problem to them in the first place. Jack looked ready to press into them, but a soft touch to his hand stopped him. He breathed out slowly and looked towards Sam who gave him a look before turning a guarded, but professional look towards the Tok'ra.

"Have a seat." She ordered as she took her own seat. "I'm sure we have much to discuss."

The Tok'ra sat hesitantly then looked warily at the team while they also took their own seats. Malec led the conversation by asking, "Is Sopdu dead or detained?"

"Detained." General O'Neill answered shortly.

"Then we would ask you release him to us for extraction. And you are sure this is the right one?"

O'Neill nodded. "Fairly certain, yeah. Nothing seems to have changed when we came back, so I can't imagine the timeline changed all that much." Malec hummed in acknowledgement but O'Neill continued before he could respond. "But we're not giving him to you. He's secure where he is. No time devices or anything on him. I think we can execute him just fine on our own."

Malek scowled at him angrily. "We asked you to bring him back to us. What difference does it make if you hand him over to us?" He gestured emphatically, rather annoyed.

O'Neill simply smirked and leaned back in his chair. "Exactly, what difference does it make? Handing him over to you would be a mess of paperwork for me. Killing a Goa'uld however will be easy enough. At this point they just want them gone. He'll be dead soon enough. I'll even send you a memo."

Malek's jaw tensed as he ground his teeth. "What are you trying to prove by killing him? You've handed over many of the other Goa'uld. What are you trying to prove?" He said accusingly, getting more frustrated by the moment.

The others watched the exchange, but weren't going to stop it. They were on General O'Neill's side, but weren't sure they could add anything to it. O'Neill shrugged and answered evenly, "I'm not trying to prove anything. I don't need to prove anything to the Tok'ra. I never did as far as I'm concerned. I'm simply going to trust myself to be rid of a Goa'uld more than I'll trust you. However, I will agree to have the symbiote extracted by you, but I want to be present. We did all the work, we're not simply handing him over to you so you can do what you want."

Malek continued to scowl, and looked to the others. While they weren't adding to the conversation, they didn't seem intent on stopping him either. "Why do you suddenly not trust us, O'Neill?"

O'Neill scoffed and laughed. A couple of the others echoed the laugh as well. "I never trusted you. I've made that quite obvious. There's just something about this that doesn't seem right to me, so I want to ensure Sopdu is killed then we can all go on our merry way, forgetting all this."

Malek contemplated that for a moment then nodded. "Then we may leave immediately for the extraction."

He knew he should be ordering everyone to get some sleep, but at this point he just wanted it to be over with. He knew there was far more to all of this, and it'd probably bite him in the ass later, but he didn't want to spend the time trying to get the Tok'ra to admit they'd done anything wrong. "Fine." He relented. "We'll get a team ready to escort Sopdu and watch the extraction."

Malek looked around the room then nodded. "Of course." He stood and walked away.

General O'Neill gestured to an airman who approached. "Follow him and make sure he doesn't go anywhere near the holding cells." The airman nodded then followed after Malek.

Daniel finally spoke up, "Okay, just to make sure we're on the same page here, you're suspecting Malek or just the Tok'ra in general."

O'Neill sighed and leaned back tiredly, "I don't know what to think, if a small group of them helped Sopdu or all of them, but someone set us up. He had help, and honestly the Tok'ra never really liked us. It was just Jakob and well…" He looked at Daniel, glad to see for once Daniel wasn't ready to argue with him. "I doubt they have the means to do this again so hopefully eliminating Sopdu will put an end to it."

Daniel hummed thoughtfully, "I doubt Sopdu would tell us, but if the Tok'ra are involved, I doubt this will be their last attempt if it is in fact them."

"Who else could it have been? There's no way he did it on his own, and the Tok'ra have been tentative allies for a long time, especially after Jakob died. They resent us for so many of them dying." Jack said emphatically.

"That's not completely true." Sam countered from his side. "While yes, their numbers are fewer than ever before, they also know they wouldn't have defeated the Goa'uld without us. Sure, there's a couple stragglers still trying to gain power, but they're easy to stop." When they all gave her a look, she amended, "I'm not saying none of the Tok'ra did it. I'm saying, it was likely a small group. I don't know Malek enough to say if he's part of it, but I also doubt it. If they truly wanted to change history, why send us back to stop him?"

Daniel looked thoughtful then nodded. "I agree with Sam. I'm sure something is going on, but I think it's a small group. Maybe if we approach them and ask they look into it, they'd be willing to. We still go to the ceremony and make sure they follow through with it, but otherwise we leave it to them."

O'Neill frowned. "Okay. We'll do it that way. Get me two available SG teams ready by the gate by…" He looked at his watch then realized that didn't help since it had come with him to the past. "What time is it?"

Sam looked to her watch automatically before realizing she had the same problem. Landry answered with a laugh. "0930. I'd say go rest, I'll make sure two SG teams are ready by 1200 hours. If you need longer, feel free. I can entertain our Tok'ra guest for awhile longer."

Jack smiled gratefully, resigning to fixing his watch later. "Thank you. Alright, you three. Sleep. I mean it."

Daniel yawned then, waving Jack off. "No arguments from me. I feel like I could sleep for a week." Teal'c hummed in agreement.

"Right then. To bed. This place can run without us for a couple hours." He got up with the others, nodding to Landry as they walked out towards the elevators and their quarters.

Sam followed silently into their room, shedding her jacket and belt as she walked to the bed. Her lack of sleep over the last week was finally catching up to her. A couple hours would do her good. She sat on the bed and looked at Jack who got comfortable on the other side of the bed. "You really think it'll work out? Things never seem to work out in our favour."

"I don't know." He admitted. "But I can hope. At some point the universe has to give us a break. I'd like to finish my vacation after all."

Sam agreed as she laid down, nearly asleep already. "That would be nice."

A few hours later they found themselves ready at the gate with an annoyed Malek and a couple other Tok'ra that had been around or came when they heard they'd be escorting Sopdu back for extraction. The guards brought him out, handcuffed and secured with every gun possible pointed at him in case he tried anything. Even the Tok'ra had zats lowered at him.

They went through the gate, arriving on the Tok'ra homeworld and followed Malek towards where they knew the extraction room to be located. The other Tok'ra were ready for them, many joining them to escort the Goa'uld to the chamber.

Everyone on the team kept glancing around, suddenly worried any of these Tok'ra could be hostile towards them, but so far they'd done nothing but bring the prisoner to the extraction room. Unfortunately, of course, they had to go through the entire ceremony, listing all his crimes. Hopefully the list was shorter than other Goa'uld they'd witnessed the extraction for.

O'Neill leaned over to Daniel and whispered, "Tell me if it seems they've missed anything, like say going back in time." Daniel nodded and they turned back to the Tok'ra who had now started the ceremony.

As they listened, the team did start to notice a couple Tok'ra looking at them oddly, and when it came to recent crimes, although the time travel attempt was mentioned, some definitely stopped singing with the others. They all tensed, sharing a quick look to see if the others had also seen and heard what they had.

It wasn't much longer and the ceremony was over. Sopdu did struggle then when he finally seemed to realize it truly was over. He didn't stand a chance, but it was a valiant effort. Before they knew it, it was over. The host sat there blinking blearily as the snake died on the floor.

O'Neill decided best not to wait and strode over to Malek, really not remembering who was currently in charge otherwise. "Hey, could we talk privately?"

Malek eyed him. "The Goa'uld is dead. I don't know what more you want to say."

Daniel stepped up behind Jack, doing his best to placate him. "It'll only take a moment and it is important. After this we'll be gone."

Malek frowned then gestured for them to follow. They walked a ways before he brought them into what looked to be a private office. He took a seat, but didn't offer any to them. "How can I help you?"

O'Neill thought for a moment then turned to Daniel. "Why don't you explain this. They always listen to you better."

Daniel gave him a look but agreed, "Alright. I know we seemed rather hostile before when we demanded he be executed immediately, but in the past he said some things that made us think. He mentioned having help because they wanted us dead, and really it makes sense. This isn't the first time we've heard the Tok'ra disliking us for getting many of you killed over a short period of time…"

Malek narrowed his eyes at the group. "What exactly are you accusing us of? Helping a Goa'uld change the past to kill you and possible allow the Goa'uld rise to power again? That's absurd."

"Not-not all of you. In fact I think if anything it's a small group. I know you have no reason to believe us, but you have to admit it seems odd doesn't it?"

Malek continued to scowl at them but didn't answer for a moment as he contemplated them. "And how do you know I'm not part of this group?"

Sam answered thoughtfully, "Because you were there when we met the queen and while you were upset to lose her and so many of your people, you didn't blame us. In fact you know that without us you never would have found her again, even if it was too late."

Malek nodded, silent for a moment while tapping his leg thoughtfully. "What do you expect me to do with this information? We thought it might be possible, but thought it was likely someone else, not one of us. And maybe it is. You haven't exactly presented me with evidence."

"We haven't, you're right." Daniel replied. "But you also believe us despite that." Malek nodded slowly. "Then all we ask is you try to prevent this from happening again and look into the group. Find people you trust and put a stop to this. There's a chance they won't try again, but they might all the same with a different Goa'uld. I'm sure it'll take them awhile to find one, so you at least have time."

Malek contemplated it for a moment then nodded. "I suppose it's the least I could do. Hopefully this won't happen again. There isn't many Goa'uld left. I'm sure they'd have a difficult time finding a willing participant, especially if news spreads about Sopdu." He smiled slightly. "I'm sure you won't have problems. Thank you for taking care of him. Most of us do appreciate it."

Jack nodded. "Well it was lovely, truly, but I have a vacation to get back to if you don't mind."

Malek stood and gestured to the door. "Of course. I'll let you be on your way. I expect you can find your way back to the Chappa'ai."

Daniel nodded. "Yes, we know the way. Thank you, Malek."

They left then, finding their way to the gate with unimportant chatter from Vala to fill the silence, not wanting to talk with all the Tok'ra around. The stargate room itself was empty though so as Daniel started dialing home Sam questioned, "Do you really think it'll work?"

Jack shrugged. "Hard to say. It might, it might not, but I think we're safe for now. I do think we can trust Malek to do his best." Teal'c nodded his agreement as the stargate whooshed to life. They each walked towards the swirling pool. "Now, back to my vacation."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's the end. Hope you enjoyed! And glad I could post this all in one go so I don't have to feel bad about making people wait.


End file.
